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Secret Files Tunguska: adventure, travel, conspiracy all-in-one

Becoming a globe-trotting adventurer has become easier the past few years, at least when it comes to mobile games and apps. We live vicariously through the make-believe characters we play and we get to live out our derring-do personas on our smartphones or tablets. One new game does just that with Secret Files Tunguska, now available on Android devices.

The game is loosely based on the Tunguska event back in 1908, an explosion which is believed to have been caused by an asteroid or comet that exploded in the air. But in the fictional world of Secret Files, you get to play either Nina the daughter or Max the assistant to Dr. Vladimir Kalenkow, a Russian scientist who has gone missing after his investigation into the Tunguska incident has propbably led him closer to "the truth". You will be chased by Russian intelligence, a secret society, and more enemies that you can count.

The good news? You get to visit exotic locations and far-flung regions and meet strange but interesting characters in this point and click adventure game with the two protagonists. The game has over 12 hours of playing time and aside from the two playable characters, you also get to encounter a dozen or so NPC with their own story backgrounds. You will spend a lot of time answering puzzles, riddles, and fulfilling quests as you continue to search for your missing father or boss (depending on who you choose to play).

The game has been localized in seven languages: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, and Russian. You can buy the game from the Google Play Store for $4.99, but there are no other in-app purchases or micro-transactions involved. You just have to pay once and then get to enjoy the entire game from thereon.

Probable Nokia-developed C1 to echo recent N1 tablet

We were just about ready to say goodbye to Nokia as a manufacturer of gadgets the moment their smartphone business was gobbled up by Microsoft, so it came as a bit of a surprise that Nokia released the N1 Android tablet towards the end of this year. There might yet be a second surprise with rumors of a smartphone called the C1 making the rounds.

The agreement between Nokia and Microsoft meant that the Finnish outfit could not – for a time – manufacture smartphones and tablets alike. But Nokia found a convenient workaround to this agreement – the N1 tablet was developed by Nokia but actually manufactured by Taiwan-based Foxconn. And it wasn’t that bad of a tablet either.

Just in the past few hours, some rumors started making the rounds with a blurry (but clear enough) image showing the rumored Nokia C1 – ostensibly a smartphone that looks very much like the design of the Nokia N1. If Nokia were to move forward with this project, it would most likely be a developmental role again, with the manufacturing given to an outside OEM.

According to the rumors, this smartphone will have a 5-inch full HD display, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. An 8-megapixel camera will allegedly be located on the back of this handset and the device should come with Android 5.0 Lollipop pre-installed, with Nokia’s Z Launcher on top of Google’s Android OS. Excited about this?

VIA: PlanetaRed

Gameloft updates Gangstar Vegas, now free to play

It’s not even Christmas yet, but Gameloft is in a generous mood. The popular game app development outfit has updated Gangstar Vegas, one of its popular pay-to-play titles, and “viola!”, the game is now free to play for everybody.

If you fancy immersing yourself an open world action/adventure game that can eat up most of your free time (and the not-so-free time as well), then this is the game for you. Head on over to the source link below to download and start playing.

A couple of caveats before installing this, though. The game will take up around 2GB worth of storage space, so make sure that you have enough before you hit the install button. From experience, the installation process can take as much as 2 to 3 hours, depending on the speed of your internet service. Make sure you are on a WiFi network so you don’t rack up your data bills.

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If you fit the requirements, go and download. This should be a great holiday time-waster for those who love open-world games.

DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store

Linkin Park Recharge game app arrives on Android

In a dystopian future, the world as we know it today no longer exists. What is there is a desert world devoid of energy populated by monstrous beings called “Hybrids” – Frankenstein-ish monsters of flesh and metal. The only hope for the world to survive is Linkin Park, of course. Who else were you thinking of?

If you haven’t heard of who Linkin Park is, stop reading right now. Otherwise, you would have to know that the band is not averse to making game apps about themselves – they already have one called Linkin Park 8-bit Rebellion out on iOS. Linkin Park Recharge is a tie-in to their sixth album release called “The Hunting Party”.

As a game, the app is an adventure-slash-third-person shooter that allows users to play the band members (of course) as part of an elite resistance unit and save the world from the hybrids. These robotic monsters have controlled what few energy sources there are left on the post-apocalyptic planet, and you need to shoot your way to getting these back. Pretty straightforward, eh?

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If you’re an LP fan, I’m pretty sure you’re gonna want to get this. The game is a free download on Android, with in-app purchases. Check out the source link below.

DOWNLOAD: Google Play Store

VIA: Android World IT

Updates to gReader, Moon+ brings Material Design to apps

With Android 5.0 Lollipop slowly rolling out to various devices in the next few months, more and more developers are continuing to optimize and adapt some of the design and features to their apps. The Material Design guidelines that Google has been pushing for their products as well as the latest Android update is making its way to a lot of apps, two of those being RSS reader gReader and ebook app Moon+.

gReader version 4.0.0 has undergone an almost complete redesign, seeing the RSS reader (a great replacement for the dearly departed Google Reader) adapt the guidelines from Google, while at the same time adding their own new features to make life easier for users. There is no more navigation bar at the bottom and instead, some of the buttons like sync, toggle unread features and item options are now on the action bar while mark all as read is a floating action button. When it comes to viewing your stories, aside from the list and grid options, you can also now use the Card view, which is a bigger thumbnail version of the list. You can also now choose other colors for your themes, including green, sepia, dark, or brown, aside from the default blue.

If you're tired of reading news items from the Internet, then you can turn to reading digital books. Moon+ Reader Pro is one ebook reader that is challenging Kindle, Kobo, Google Play Books and the like, and version 3.0 is also doing a Material Design revamp. The update also brings new options for bookshelves and book search. Your ebooks can also now be synced on Dropbox and you also get to monitor the statistics for your reading history.

You can download gReader for free from the Google Play Store. Moon+ meanwhile is at 50% off until January 4 so you can get it for just $2.49 instead of its usual $4.99.

Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka to have Android One soon

When Google announced Android One last September to reach the emerging market in several Asian and African countries, there was much expectation that this will pave the way for a lot more people to have access to affordable but mid-level smartphones and be more connected to the rest of the world. The tech giant has now announced that after officially rolling out in India the past few months, they are also moving on to other countries in the region speicifically Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Google said they are partnereing with manufacturers and carriers in those countries to be able to bring Android One to their markets. The three countries have a combined population of 200 million people, but majority cannot afford the usual Android smartphones available in the market. By bringing in Android One, people will now be able to experience high quality mobile devices but a price that will be right up their alley. Banglalink and Symphony will be joining Micromax, Karbonn and Spice as Google's partners in bringing the devices to the region. Symphony will be launching their first Android One smartphone called Symphony Roar A50.

The mobile phone in market has been enjoying the benefits of having Android One smartphones available for sale both online and in retail stores. In fact, one of their partners, Spice, recently launched a new model which was created specifically for Hindi speaking users. That is one advantage of working with local manufacturers but with Google's expertise and standards. You get to customize the device to the market without sacrificing quality, even with prices that are below the usual Android device range.

There are no specifications yet for the Android One devices that will be launched in the other countries, but it will probably not be far off from the one initially available in India. They can expect something similar to Spice Dream UNO, which has a 4.5-inch FWGA display and runs on a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek processor. The dual SIM smartphone has a 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage, a 5MP main camera and a 2MP front-facing one. Let's wait and see if the Android One devices in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka would be the same or maybe slightly even better.

SOURCE: Google

Android 5.0.2 Fixes 2012 Nexus 7! Sony’s Making a Google Glass Competitor? – XDA TV

Android 5.0.2 Lollipop is available for the Google Nexus 7 2012! That and much more news is covered by Jordan when he reviews all the important stories from this weekend. Included in this weekend’s news is the announcement of the YU Yureka using CyanogenMod and be sure to check out the article talking about Sony releasing a Google Glass competitor! That’s not all that’s covered in today’s video!

Jordan talks about the other videos released this weekend on XDA TV. XDA TV Producer RootJunky showed you how to root Android Wear. Later, XDA TV Producer droidmodd3r shows you how to root a Nexus 6 using a Mac. And if you missed it be sure to check out Jordan’s Review of the Nvidia SHIELD Tablet. Pull up a chair and check out this video.

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