Welcome to the 425th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from the last week:
Google Play will finally allow apps to do custom billing in the Play Store. Spotify is the first to try out the new system where users can choose their billing platform. Google is also working with other developers to test the new feature. Hit the link to learn more, but this is a very big deal.
The Moto X Pure Edition is available via Amazon and B&H Photo for $319.99 for the 64 GB version and just $239.00 for the 16 GB model. Regardless of which storage capacity you choose, you’ll also get a free microSD card with either phone: a 32 GB card with the 16 GB model and a free 64 GB card for the 64 GB version.
Motorola just schooled LG on how to do modular design
The Unicode Consortium (the organization that coordinates development of the Unicode standard) recently introduced a proposal that would entail adding more racial diversity to the emoji characters (i.e the little yellow smiley faces you insert into text messages) used for mobile devices. Google and Apple have already both viewed and edited the proposal, which looks to bring skin tones and racial variety to emoji faces.
The history of the emoji
While this may seem like a rather minute development at first glance, the topic actually has quite a history.
You just have to love the things created by the hardworking developers in the XDA Developers community because they’re continuously improving our lives and end-user experience. Take, for instance, what XDA Developers member vicino has done to make the Recent Apps switcher look and function better on the Galaxy Nexus.
The native Recent Apps switcher in both Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean allows you to see what recent apps are running in the background and also preview their respective app screens.
After years without a Might & Magic game, Ubisoft has just released a new mobile title under the name Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians. The good news is that it’s a well polished game with a lot of good things going for it. The bad news is that it has nothing to do with the rest of the Might & Magic franchise. Read on for the full Might & Magic: Elemental Guardians review.
Apple’s iPhone 5 got its fair share of Chinese Android-based clones before and around the time of its release, but since it’s been out there hasn’t been much movement in Shanzhai Land. The Zophone i5 has been the only half decent knock-off to come to our attention in months, and, while that copied iPhone 5’s design by the letter, it didn’t exactly rock the specs of a lifetime.
We don’t want to be mean (oh, alright, we do), but it was like “the thinnest, lightest and fastest iPhone ever” was not worth the efforts anymore – or at least not as much as Samsung’s Galaxy S3 and Note 2.
Popular ride-hailing service Uber has just made it easier for users in India to book a cab without using their app, as well as order a ride on behalf of a friend or family member.
The “Dial an Uber” feature that does not require an app to book a ride, and all you have to do is go go to to www.dial.uber.com on your mobile and login by simply entering your phone number, since the web app version does not require you to create a new Uber account.
One of the most common criticisms leveled at Android, is the lack of consistency between applications. Since it’s an open platform, Android gives developers the freedom to bring their creative vision to life – but this isn’t always a good thing from the user’s perspective. If you flick through a few apps on your Android device then chances are you’ll encounter at least a couple of applications that look very different from one another – and potentially very different from the Android system in general!
TL;DR
Google announced it will make its Measure tool available for Google Earth. The tool lets you measure the distance between two points, as well as the length, width, and area. You can play around with the Measure tool in the Chrome browser today. Google already launched its Measure app for ARCore-enabled smartphones, but why not up the ante and make it available elsewhere? That is exactly what Google did with the latest update to Google Earth, which now lets you measure the distance and area of anything on the map.
Now, DisplayMate has once again awarded that title and an A+ grade to a display built by the experts at Samsung Display, only this time it’s not for its work on a Samsung flagship, but for the Samsung-made OLED display found on Apple’s iPhone X.
Following 2017’s hot trend, the iPhone X’s 5.8-inch OLED display has a taller height-to-width aspect ratio of 19.5:9 offering a ‘bezel-less’ look (as long as you ignore the notch).