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Google Search for iOS gets push notifications for reminders

Google today announced a slew of improvements in its mobile search application to celebrate 15 years of Google Search. The improvements include an update to the iOS app that will bring reminder notifications amongst other features. Some of these features are already available on the Android app. The update will also help enable a seamless search experience across multiple devices and platforms. The search app will now sync across mobile devices and platforms and so a reminder set on one device will reflect on others as well. Users will need to be logged in to their Google account for this.

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YouTube for Android v5.1.10 update brings New Video Notifications

YouTube for Android 5.1.10

Google has updated the YouTube app for Android to version 5.1.10 that brings new video notifications feature that lets you receive notifications for new videos that match your interests. This update also brings promoted video to front and center and also adds advertisement from Google for some videos. YouTube for Android and iOS got a major update last month that brought a lot of new features including watch while you search, play all button in playlist and more. Continue reading “YouTube for Android v5.1.10 update brings New Video Notifications”

Android Device Manager updated with remote locking feature

Google launched their Android Device Manager at the starting of August. At launch, Android Device Manager had the features to make your phone ring at full volume in case you had misplaced it, to map the location of the device and to quickly erase all the data from phone in case of theft or other situations.

android-de vice-manager-lock
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Focal camera app now available on Google Play, distances itself from CyanogenMod

Ever since CyanogenMod announced the formation of a new company called Cyanogen Inc, there’s been a lot of drama involved within the team. Guillaume Lesniak, the person behind the rather awesome Focal camera app, has distanced himself from Cyanogen because of the changes in licensing. The app will now be available on the Google Play store and is initially in beta phase. Continue reading “Focal camera app now available on Google Play, distances itself from CyanogenMod”

Quickoffice for Android, iPhone and iPad now available for free to everyone

Quickoffice for Android

Google acquired Quickoffice back in June 2012 and made Quickoffice for Android, iPhone and iPad free for enterprise users in April 2013. Now Google has made these apps free to everyone, and all you need is Google account to use these apps. The app lets view and edit Microsoft Office Excel, Word and PowerPoint files. Since Quickoffice is integrated with Google Drive, you can store and access your files across devices.Google has also updated these apps with new features including a new icon, ability to create .ZIP folders and view charts in Excel and PowerPoint files. Continue reading “Quickoffice for Android, iPhone and iPad now available for free to everyone”

Nexus 5 shows up in a short video with Android 4.4 KitKat

Another year, another Nexus smartphone and another bar story. The relationship between bars and yet to be announced phones never ceases to amuse the internet folks. A couple of weeks ago, just ahead of the IFA, Google announced their next version of Android – 4.4 KitKat with some theatrics and “accidentally” showed off the next Nexus smartphone in their video. Recent images from FCC filings have also identified the same device and it shows stronger evidence of a new Nexus device.

nexus-5-03

Yesterday, a Google employee supposedly left a Nexus 5 device unattended while it was put for charging in a bar(Yes, you heard it right, A bar) and an employee of the bar was able to make a quick video and get a couple of images of the supposed Nexus 5. The images show that the device is quite identical to the one spotted at FCC filings and the one Google showed off in their video. It has the Nexus logo at the back in horizontal orientation and there is a huge camera which was seen in the video. There is a LG logo at the bottom and a Not for Sale text above it. The design language seems to be quite similar to the Nexus 4, but with less rounded corners and a bigger screen. There are no navigation keys which is quite typical of a Nexus device.

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The boot screen shown in the images supposedly belongs to Android 4.4 KitKat, but it seems quite similar to the ones on the Google Play Edition phones. And the video shows just the lockscreen of what is believed to be Android 4.4. KitKat.

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The rumored specifications of Nexus 5 include

5inch 1080p True-Full HD IPS display
Snapdragon 800 SoC

You can check out the video right below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPYVbaF1Jmg

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJSYSuyKfY

What do you think of the new Nexus 5? Is it impressive enough?

Google Glass Hands On – The future of wearable computing is here!

google-glass-first-impressions-hands-on

As you all know , the FoneArena team was IFA 2013 bringing you tons of content from the German capital Berlin.Just when we thought IFA2013 was coming to an end and we had to pack our bags to fly back home, we got a chance to try out Google Glass and hence we managed to record a demo too! If you are excited about wearable gadgets like smart watches , Google Glass is certainly going to impress you. Glass was launched almost a year ago at Google I/O and is still not available to the general public and it is selectively available only in the US to a hand picked set of developers and partners. So we were super lucky to get hold of one thanks to our friends over at AndroidWorld.it who let us play with their unit. Check out our hands on demo below!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4FlQmzZkmw Continue reading “Google Glass Hands On – The future of wearable computing is here!”

Google Nexus 5 images spotted at FCC

LG Nexus 5 leak

LG device with the codename – LG D820 has passed the FCC for approval last week, now images of the same device has been spotted in the FCC filings. First spotted by PhoneScoop, these images look similar to the upcoming Nexus device spotted in the official video that surfaced last week with a large camera. However this doesn’t have a Nexus branding on the back, since this might be a prototype device for testing. Continue reading “Google Nexus 5 images spotted at FCC”

Google Nexus 7 2013 LTE Version Unboxing

Nexus-7-2013-LTE-unboxing-11

I was in Berlin, Germany for IFA 2013 last week and managed to pick an LTE version of the Nexus 7 2013 which is currently on sale only in a few countries including Germany and UK. We had already unboxed the WiFi only version previous on FoneArena and like always we are always excited about any device with a SIM card slot and here we have the unboxing of the Nexus 7 2013 LTE version.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWHnhhqpvJ8

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Google Nexus 5 spotted at FCC as LG D820 with Snapdragon 800 and Android 4.4

google-nexus-4-leak-kitkat

Just ahead of the IFA, Google revealed that their next version of Android will be Android 4.4 KitKat in a surprising manner with no events or anything of that. Last year, Google Nexus 4 was launched in November along with Android 4.2 Jellybean and looks like Google are getting ready to replace their flagship smartphone device. In the past, there have been rumors flying around that Motorola has been roped in build the next Nexus smartphone device. Certain rumors hinted at LG to repeat its favor last year and nothing was confirmed until Google released a video for Android 4.4 KitKat in which Google may have teased the new Nexus 5. Continue reading “Google Nexus 5 spotted at FCC as LG D820 with Snapdragon 800 and Android 4.4”

Google Drive 2.0 for iPhone and iPad brings a new design, Quick preview and more

Google Drive 2.0 for iPhone and iPad

Google has updated the Drive app for iPhone and iPad to version 2.0 that brings a lot of features including a new design with new grid view, previews and lotes more. Google Drive for Android got these features back in May. You can also switch between the new thumbnail view and the traditional list view, copy the link for any Drive file to share it easily, new details page makes moving the file a Drive folders and sharing easy. Search is not on the front so that you can find something in you drive quickly. Continue reading “Google Drive 2.0 for iPhone and iPad brings a new design, Quick preview and more”

Google Nexus 7 (2013) vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 311

Today we have the new Google Nexus 7 (2013) against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 311. The new Nexus 7 was launched in July and is yet to be available in India while the Galaxy Tab 3 was launched in July and has been available since then in India.

google-nexus-7-vs-galaxy-tab-3-14

The Nexus 7 comes with an upgraded processor, much better display and a rear camera which was absent in its predecessor while the Galaxy Tab 3 has Samsung’s Exynos SoC.

Lets check out how the devices perform.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyzDOZOTjQ0 Continue reading “Google Nexus 7 (2013) vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 311”

Android passes 1 billion activations, 1.5 million devices activated daily

Back in July, at Google I/O, Sundar Pichai announced that the total number of Android activations had surpasses 900 million. Ever since that announcement, the whole of Tech industry has been expecting when the Android activations will hit the magical billion. Yesterday, Sundar Pichai, via his post in Google+ announced that Android has surpassed 1 billion activations so far.

android-kitkat

Last year, in September, Google announced that the total number of Android activations had surpassed 500 million with 1.3 million activations per day. This year, the number has doubled and the number of activations per day has rose from 1.3 million to 1.5 million.

Essentially, there are a billion Android devices out there in the world and the rate is increasing rapidly at 1.5 million activations per day. Last month’s Android distribution break down revealed that more than 40% of Android devices are on Jelly Bean, 2.6% increase from 37.9% in July. Google is yet to release the distribution chart for last month.

Samsung S-View Cover on the Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition, it works

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition was launched with much anticipation, as to how it will work and how the updates will roll out. While the immediate roll out of 4.3 inspired confidence there was always a worry that buying the S4 Google Play Edition will strip out all the important features of TouchWiz. While that still stands true, we found that one neat feature of the TouchWiz enabled S4 still works for the Google Play Edition, and that is the S4 View Cover functionality. We snapped the S4’s S-View Cover on to the S4 GPE and shot a quick demo of it for you –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVMK2JC7z5Y

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