Bugs are fixed and new features have been added in Hangouts update

News by:  Hamad Shaikh 7th June 2014

Reportedly Google hangouts has a new feature called "sketch a message", and with this feature you can sketch anything in hangouts app and send it in message but this feature is not rolled out yet but according to android police many people reported that they have already saw this feature.But it is not the only thing to tell you, also hangouts update 2.1.233 came up with the bug fixes and also with some other features. As I posted before that hangouts was crashing on reload of emojis and battery drain issue is also resolved in this update.

  There’s also a hidden contacts area in the settings menu separate from blocked people allowing you to hide people, while still being able to see those conversations. Even though Hangouts has allowed users to block people for a while, this is the first time you've had access to the people you've blocked. Another new feature includes the ability for users to change notification sounds for individual chats.

So you can wait for this update by playstore which have feature of staged update or can download now from this link hangouts thanks to XDA Otherwise you can download app from Playstore.

Read More

Go Global with More Seamless Google Play Payments

News by:  Hamad Ali 16th May 2014

Developers based in 13 new countries can now sell apps on Google Play (with new additions such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey), bringing the total to 45 countries with support for local developers. Google also increased their buyer currency support to 28 new countries, making it even easier for you to tailor your pricing in 60 countries.

     Of course, as developers, when it comes to payments, there’s nothing for you to do; Google process all payments, reconcile all currencies globally, and make a monthly deposit in your designated bank account. This means you get to focus on what you do best; creating beautiful and engaging apps and games.

PayPal support:

Now Google make it possible for people to choose PayPal for their Google Play purchases in 12 countries, including the U.S., Germany, and Canada. When you make a purchase on Google Play in these countries, you'll find PayPal as an option in your Google Wallet; just enter your PayPal account login and you'll easily be able to make purchases. They know their goal, to provide users with a frictionless payment experience, and this new integration is another example of how they work with partners from across the payments industry to deliver this to the user.

     Also The permissions menu has been simplified and should be a little more user-friendly thanks to categories that can be collapsed or expanded as a user sees fit. There is also a new “Additional Information” section available that reveals information about required permissions, content rating, installed size, and the version number. These changes join some minor UI tweaks.

     Since Google rolls out updates to their core apps over the course of several days, there is a good chance you could still be waiting for this update. You don’t have to though as the APK is now available for download and install using this link:

apk: apk from XDA

via: talkandroid

news source: android-developers

Read More

Rumor: BlackBerry 10.2.1 could feature Google Play Store

News by:  Herrison Kaminsky 10th November 2013

After many Leaks about BBM, here comes the New leak about Black Berry, BlackBerry is currently working on the next version of their OS, 10.2.1, and i have some key information regarding the update which will perhaps make some BlackBerry users pretty happy.

A new Android Runtime is expected to be included in the next build of Blackberry 10, which will allow the Google Play Store to be available to BlackBerry users to download and install Android applications and other content to their devices.

This means no more side-loading, and would instantly make thousands of apps available for the platform, which has been the major shortcoming for BlackBerry.

As much as I hate to say it, this could actually be the beginnings of a BlackBerry comeback, it could make for a very nice option for those that enjoy the BlackBerry OS and hardware.

Although the pictures make this all pretty believable, but it’s still all just a rumor so don’t get too excited just yet.

news source: talkandroid.com

Read More

Install Latest Google Play Store 4.4.21 With Slide-Out Navigation

News by: Aditiya Thawardas ,21 OCT 2013

we all have listened many rumours about the new Play Store application, version 4.4.21, which features a new slide-out navigation menu. As a refresher, the slide-out menu will have the following options: Store home, My apps, My wishlist, and Redeem, in addition to  “Shop” at certain times. Today, I have the update for us to download. There’s no card based layout as I originally thought this update might bring, as the slide-out menu seems to be the only addition in this update.which is also good one.

Download Links from news source: mirror #1 / mirror #2
news source: talkandroid.com

Read More

Chrome Cast Application is now internationally available

News by: Harrison Kaminsky ,18 OCT 2013

Good news not only for US citizens but for every one around the globe. i am hearing reports that the Android Chrome Cast application can now be downloaded through Google Play by international users, and I've confirmed that that's the case in the UK. (many people said they're seeing it in many other countries, so it appears all regional restrictions on the application). Although the Chrome Cast itself is only selling in the United States (Confirmation that it can now be downloaded in the UK has arrived, as well as some other countries.)

While the Chrome cast still can’t be purchased in the UK, the application availability change may signal something coming… 

news source: talkandroid.com

Read More

Google Announced Event in New york City

News by: Robert Nazarian ,17 OCT 2013

Google sent invitations for event in New york City ,The show starts at 7PM, but if you’re thinking Nexus 5, you might be out of luck. The invitation only mentioned Google Play and says, “Join us for a night out with Google Play – Music, movies, games, and a special performance by Capital Cities.”

Geek is reporting that this event won’t have any hardware announcements, so i am not sure exactly what Google is planning here. Of course, Android 4.4 isn’t “hardware”.

This could just be an after party for an announcement that will take place earlier in the day or they could be planning a second event. I will keep you posted as i hear more.

Google surprised everyone with the KitKat from month, but what few details i have of the software have come in the form of leaks. The Nexus 5 itself has also been leaked a few times, including by Google just last night. It will be good to get all the official details, assuming this event has anything to do with Android. 

news source: talkandroid.com

Read More

What is Android?

1.Android in Common and on Wiki:

Android in Common: 

There's no other software quite like Android. Google engineered Android, and Google’s own apps run best on it. And with millions of apps, games, songs, and videos on Google Play, Android is great for fun, and for getting things done.

Android devices come in all kinds of sizes, with all sorts of features, and at all sorts of prices. Each version of Android is named after a dessert, and the most recent version of Android is Jelly Bean and upcoming is KitKat. With Android, you’re in control of your mobile experience. 

definition from android.com

Android on Wiki:

Android is a Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Initially developed by Android, Inc., which Google backed financially and later bought in 2005, Android was unveiled in 2007 along with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. The first Android-powered phone was sold in October 2008.

Android is open source and Google releases the code under the Apache License. This open-source code and permissive licensing allows the software to be freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and enthusiast developers. Additionally, Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of devices, written primarily in a customized version of the Java programming language.

2.What is Android?

Defination:

Android is an operating system based on the Linux Operating System.The project responsible for developing the Android system is called the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and is primarily lead by Google.

Android For Newbies:

The Android development enviroment.An integrated set of tools to help you create your own Android applications.Android platform is a software stack for building and running mobile applications.And if you've used an Android device, to write email, to take photos, to get directions, to play games and so on, then you've seen the Android platform in action.And you have a good idea about what it can do.

Android System Supports:

   it supports background processing, provides a rich user interface library, supports 2-D and 3-D graphics using the OpenGL libraries, access to the file system and provides an embedded SQLite database.also Android applications consist of different components and can reuse components of other applications. 

  

Android Platform Components:

The Android system is a full software stack which is typically defined into the following four areas.

• Applications - The Android Open Source project contains several default application, like Home,Contacts,Phone,Browser, Camera, Gallery, Music, Phone and more.
  
• Application framework - API which allow for high-level interaction with the Android system from Android applications,like Activity Manager,Window Manager,Content Providers and more.
  
• Libraries and runtime - Libraries for the Application Framework for many functions (graphic rendering, data storage, web browsing, etc.) contains Surface Manager, Media FrameWork, SQlite etc and the Dalvik runtime and the core Java libraries for running Android applications.
  
• Linux kernel - Communication layer for the underlying hardware.contains Driver Display, Camera Drive, Flash Memory Driver etc.
  

This architecture is depicted in the following graphic.

 Task:

A task is a collection of activities that users interact with when performing a certain job. The activities are arranged in a stack (the "back stack"), in the order in which each activity is opened.

The device Home screen is the starting place for most tasks. When the user touches an icon in the application launcher (or a shortcut on the Home screen), that application's task comes to the foreground. If no task exists for the application (the application has not been used recently), then a new task is created and the "main" activity for that application opens as the root activity in the stack.

or 

The reuse of components of other applications leads to the concept of a task in Android; an application can reuse other Android components to archive a task. For example you can trigger from your application another application which has itself registered with the Android system to handle photos. In this other application you select a photo and return to your application to use the selected photo. 

Google Play:

Google offers the Google Play service in which programmers can offer their Android applications to Android users. End users use the Google Play application which allows to buy and install applications from the Google Play service.

Google Play also offers an update service. If a programmer uploads a new version of his application to Google Play, this service notifies existing users that an update is available and allows them to install the update.

Google Play provides also access to services and libraries for Android application programmers. For example it provides a service to use and display Google Maps and another to synchronize application state between different Android installations. Providing these services via Google Play has the advantage that they are available for older Android releases and can be updated by Google without the need for an update of the Android release on the phone.

Read More