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Major Update for the Sony Smartwatch 2 Brings DND and More

SW2

With the wearables landscape now dominated by Android Wear and Pebble, it’s understandable if it seems that other wearable devices have faded into the background, and perhaps even forgotten. And with Sony pushing their newest smartwatch, the Smartwatch 3, which runs Android Wear, the Smartwatch 2 and its Sony-developed OS seem to have been put on the back burner. No updates for the device in the last few months certainly makes it seem this way.


But it looks like the Smartwatch 2 hasn’t been forgotten by Sony, as quite a major update has arrived for the device introducing some useful features. One of them is the ability to customize the order of apps in watch’s home screens, a function which, in all honesty, should’ve been available since the beginning. You can now also choose up to three watch faces which you can swipe between on your SW, a neat feature for quickly switching watch faces for different occasions, or for folks who find themselves getting bored of their watch face easily. And the final feature introduced with this update is a ‘Do not disturb’ feature in the settings.


So if you’ve been waiting for an update to come to the SW2, wait no more. You should be receiving an update notification very soon, if not already. And if you have, share your thoughts about the update with us in the comments below.


[Via Xperia blog]


The post Major Update for the Sony Smartwatch 2 Brings DND and More appeared first on xda-developers.


Deezer update: lyrics you can read or sing-along to

With the continued popularity of Spotify (despite Taylor Swift's break-up with them) and Google creating YouTube Music Key, competition in the music streaming service has never been tougher. Another competitor, Deezer, is stepping up its game in the latest update as it gives users the chance not just to listen to songs they like but sing-along to the ones they love with the new lyrics feature.



If you're a true blue music lover, you will always have the urge to sing along to your favorite songs, but not all of them have clear cut lyrics. Deezer has partnered with LyricFind so that you have the option to look at the lyrics while you're listening to a song. No more mishearing Starbucks lovers in a Taylor Swift song (yes, she's on this music streaming service) or thinking Jennifer Lopez is expressing love for her puppy instead of her Papi.


You have the option to display the entire song at once, or if you feel like doing a little karaoke, you can view it in sing-along mode. Not all songs however have the lyrics already, only those that have a microphone icon will be able to display the words. But they are working on having this for all 35 million songs in their library. This feature is available in all of its platforms like smartphones, tablets and even desktops.


While some of the other music streaming services like Spotify can also do this through third-party apps. Deezer is probably the first to have it built-in to the app. This feature is available in both the free and premium services when you update your app. If you don't have it yet on your device, you can download it from the Google Play Store.





Looney Tunes make a comeback on mobile devices with new game

While Looney Tunes is not that popular anymore compared to their heyday of the past few decades, there is still a certain generation that looks on the animated shorts and characters with nostalgia, and they still have an appeal to kids who didnt' grow up on Bugs Bunny, the Road Runner, Tweety Bird and the others. A new Android game might just renew interest in the animated characters in an endless runner game with a slight twist to the usual ones of its type.



Looney Tunes Dash is not just a runner game but instead of running endlessly or until you die, you get to run, jump, slide, and smash your way to win. You can choose to play some of the most popular Looney Tunes characters, including Bugs, Tweety, Road Runner, Daffy Duck and get to escape classic "villains" like Wil E. Coyote, Sylvester the Cat, and Elmer Fudd. You get to collect coins, power-ups, special abilities to help you win the game you're playing.


You also get to run in different "episodes" that are based on the actual original cartoons that you enjoyed as a kid. Even the music and moments are inspired by specific episodes and Jeff Bergman, the current voice talent behind such characters as Bugs, Elmer, Yosemite Sam, etc, also lends his voice to the game. And to contribute even more to the nostalgia trip, there are Looney Tunes Collectors Cards scattered across the game, which contain facts and trivia about your favorite animated shorts and characters.


You can download Looney Tunes Dash from the Google Play Store for free. There are several in-app purchases available so if you have kids borrowing your Android device to play the game, better disable the one click pay option.




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Coffee messaging app lets you text easily on Android Wear

While smartwatches have made our communication and digital lives a little bit easier, it is still very limited, with most of the wearables just showing us notifications of incoming calls, messages or app activities. But acting on those notifications is not yet that great. Thank goodness for app developers because now, you can actually respond to messages without needing to take out your phone or looking silly talking to your watch with Coffee app for Android Wear.



The app says that it is the first messaging app that can use your smartwatch to respond to SMS communication so you can be responsive while you're on the go, wherever you are. With just a few swipes or taps on your wearable, you will be able to send messages in a more "subtle manner" if you're in a situation where taking out your phone is inconvenient or not socially acceptable.


Coffee has around 100 preset messages that you can use to respond to important communications you have to respond to at that moment. You can also customize a certain number of those messages if the preset ones do not match what you're trying to say. You can also choose the vibrating patterns for certain contacts so that you can actually know who's sending you messages.


While most of the Android Wear apps are just smartphone apps optimized for the wearable, Coffee is actually created from the ground up and conceptualized for smartwatches. You can download Coffee for free from the Google Play Store.


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SOURCE: Awear


Github Tutorial App Shows You How to Use… Github

Github Tutorial

Github can get pretty complicated and using it can become quite daunting, especially for a rookie who’s just getting started. Unfortunately (or fortunately), there aren’t too many ways around it in the community-driven open-source development world, particularly if you want to compile a custom recovery, or a ROM or something else from source. So to help you out with all the ins and outs of Github, XDA Recognized Contributor and Themer Vivek_Neel created a Github Tutorial app.


Github Tutorial, unlike the many other helpful tutorials we feature here on the Portal, does not come in the form of a written forum post. Rather, it’s an Android application designed to guide and teach people just beginning their journey. In addition to the basics, Github Tutorial also covers the intermediate and advanced aspects of Github for those who know a bit more about the service. And to top it off, Vivek_Neel has added a test at the end quizzing you about what you’ve learned.


If you’re interested in learning more about Github, this app is a good place to start. So, to find out more, head over to the Github Tutorial application thread.


The post Github Tutorial App Shows You How to Use… Github appeared first on xda-developers.


Minuum update: multiple languages at once, material design

With the global community becoming smaller and more connected due to the Internet and digital technology, more and more people are becoming bilingual or even multi-lingual, in either business and/or in their personal lives. Sometimes, when communicating with other people, they even use two or more languages at the same time. Virtual keyboard Minuum is giving this kind of users an easier time by giving the app simultaneous multilingual capabilities.



Version 3.0.1 of Minuum now sports an experimental feature that allows you to use multiple languages simultaneously when typing on the virtual keyboard while using any app. When you type on the single row of letters (which is one of the unusual selling points of the app), you will receive recommendations from the multiple languages that you activated in the settings. The update will also show you a status bar for the other language packs that you're adding so you know how much time is remaining for the download to finish.


The newest version of the app also has a Material Design make-over, to keep it looking at par with other Google apps and (if your smartphone is already updated or will soon) with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Other minor updates shown in the changelog includes option to enable bonus panel shortcut, better compound words prediction, quicker secondary character selection, and a fix for the fonts in the mini keyboard.


There are also new themes available in the in-app purchases for the Minuum store. You can either choose the free version of Minuum or upgrade to the full version for $3.99, which of course has more features.


VIA: Android Police





Samsung shutting down ChatOn in all markets except in the US

Maybe you own a Samsung smartphone device and you noticed one of the apps there that keeps getting updated but you’ve never used it (but you can’t delete it out of there as well) – it’s called ChatOn, and it was supposed to be Samsung’s competition for iMessage, a Samsung-only messaging tool. But it never really caught on, and after many denials that the South Korean gadget giant was killing the app, they finally officially announced that they were ditching ChatOn.



Well, there’s a small caveat. The announcement was made in Korea, and it looked for a while like it was only going to get ditched in Korea, but Samsung has come out saying that starting on February 1, 2015, the ChatOn app will no longer be part of the manufacturer’s app ecosystem in all global markets except for the United States, where it will be retained.


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Why retain it in the US? The most probable reason is that it is the only market where the app has some sort of traction. Samsung is citing "changing market conditions" for the decision, but this seems contrary to the 100-million strong user base that they have claimed when asked about the app.


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The reality is that the marketing for ChatOn was never really spot on, and people didn’t realize that they had a good messaging service in their hands. The result – people didn’t really use the software preloaded on so many Samsung smartphones because tragically, they didn’t know what it was.


VIA: Engadget





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