Android News

One of the more notable additions to Samsung's Galaxy S9 lineup earlier this year was AR Emoji, but the feature never really took off for customers. Despite that, Samsung has made a point of updating the product , and this week, new characters from Disney's Frozen are arriving… The best gifts for Android users Following the addition of Disney's Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters as well as The Incredibles , Samsung's partnership with Disney has now brought characters from Frozen to AR Emoji. The new additions include Anna, Elsa, Olaf, and Kristoff. Like with previous additions, these new characters can mimic your facial expressions in pictures and videos. Samsung Electronics has revealed the latest set of popular Disney characters to be brought to life by the Galaxy S9 series as AR Emojis – users are now able to transform themselves into characters from Disney Frozen. The beloved animated singing stars are the latest fan favorites to

... Most people don't like to wake up to the grating whine of a regular alarm clock, and a lot of the "alarm" sounds on phones are scarcely better. Now, the Google Clock app offers an alternative. In the latest version, you can use music from Spotify for your alarms. Play Music and YouTube Music? Nope, because Google. You can connect the Clock app to a free or premium Spotify account, and then search for songs, playlists, or access your recently played tracks. Spotify will also provide a number of curated playlists for your alarm. The Spotify section of the app is in a second tab next to the "Sounds." We first spotted the framework for this in an APK Teardown back in 2017. That's the gist of it. To get started, you need to be on the latest version of the Clock and Spotify apps. It is a little bit strange that Google is adding Spotify support to the Clock app instead of its own music offerings, but that's Google for yo

You Can Now Set Alarms With Music From Spotify in the Google Clock App Posted by Evan Selleck on Jul 31, 2018 in Google The Google Clock app is preinstalled on Android handsets and is a trusty way to set alarms. If you use the app and want to spice up your alarm sounds, then the app's newest addition might help with that. Google on Tuesday announced the ability to add music from Spotify as your new alarm sounds if you are so inclined. You will need to make sure that you have the most recent version of both apps installed on your phone, but once you do you'll be able to choose from a variety of music to set as your alarms. The Google announcement says that you will be able to choose from your recently played music, search for specific soundtracks, or select a curated morning playlist that is put together by Spotify. "To get started with musical alarms, make sure the latest versions of your Spotify and Clock apps are installed and connected on yo

Today Mint Mobile is turning two. In order to celebrate its anniversary, the company announced a $5 Starter Kit that makes it easier for people to try Mint's services. In case you don't know. Mint Mobile is what's considered a mobile virtual network operator. MVNOs operate on the infrastructure of existing networks. In the case of Mint, that network is T-Mobile . Unlike traditional carriers, Mint Mobile does not charge by the month for its plans. Instead, it requires customers to sign-up for service for 3, 6 or 12 months. After this introductory period, prices go up but not as much as if you were using other carriers. You can get free service from Mint for 7 days The $5 kit contains a Mint Mobile SIM card with 100MB of 4G LTE data, 100 texts, and 100 minutes of talk. The idea is be able to easily try out Mint Mobile and see if it's a good fit for you in the area you live in. After all, it comes down to coverage and Mint's availability in your area. You c

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the day is full of different Amazon Key Home Kits, which are up to $144.98 off right now. So if you've been looking to get Amazon Key into your home – so Amazon can deliver packages inside your home – then now is definitely the time to do so. Remember, since this is part of the Gold Box Deal of the Day, it is good today only, and expires at midnight PST. Amazon Key is a kit that the retailer is selling, which includes a smart lock for your front door, along with an Amazon Cloud Cam. The smart lock is used so that you can give delivery people access to your home to deliver packages inside your home. And the Cloud Cam is used to see exactly what delivery people are doing in your home, and make sure they are only delivering the package and not taking anything else. This is being done because Amazon has had issues with people stealing packages from in front of people's homes, apartments and such. Now these can also be used to make your home smarter,

Keep your phone alive. These are the best battery packs for your Galaxy S8 and S8+! Trying to find a great battery pack for your Galaxy S8 or S8+ ? Fortunately, you're in the right place! Just like with every other part of its operating system, Samsung gives the user a couple options when it comes to charging the phone. You can use the USB-C port for faster charging, or the phone includes Qi wireless charging for slower — but more convenient — power ups. The same choice is available when it comes to battery packs. There are a few Qi options — but these will be slower than just plugging in a wire. There's also the fact that you'll need to keep the phone in contact with the battery bank, while using a wire means you can move and use the phone while it charges. On the wired side, it's good to look for a battery bank that charges with USB-C so you can use the same charger for the battery bank as you do your phone. Quick Charge support and USB Power Deliver

Samsung continues to expand the selection of AR emojis based on Disney properties – the latest addition are the main characters from Frozen. Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Kristoff can be downloaded from the Galaxy App Store for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ . This leaves Zootopia from the official list of movies to be turned into AR emoji. Samsung has already covered The Incredibles , Mickey and Minnie , Goody and Daisy , along with a pack of 18 generic AR emoji (there are 18 more on the way). Source #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

The situation at MoviePass is bad. Very bad . With the value of the company having plummeted tremendously after a disastrous reverse stock split last week , MoviePass's owners are doing anything they can to stem the bleeding at the popular all-you-can-eat theater subscription service, and it looks like "anything" means making the service much, much worse. I won't leave you waiting on the big changes: monthly pricing is going up 50% (to $14.95) and you won't be able to see most movies (anything opening on over 1000 screens) until they've been out for two weeks. Oh, and that whole peak pricing thing is sticking around, too. This probably isn't surprising to anyone at this point, but it's clear that after dropping the pricing of its unlimited plan 80% last year  to a scarcely-believable $10 a month, MoviePass just intended to incrementally make it a worse and worse deal over time. With all the financial troubles it's facing, MoviePass ha

Sony's smartphones have never been big sellers, but as the market continues to get more competitive, the company has continued fading into the background. Now, its latest earnings report reveals some even more troublesome numbers… The best gifts for Android users The latest earnings report from Sony (via The Verge ) breaks down the company's overall sales by division. While there's a fair amount of good in there, the company's mobile division is clearly struggling even more so. In fact, the already small sales numbers have dropped by 27%. That means Sony only sold a mere 2 million smartphones in Q2 of 2018. That number may sound like a lot, but it's a very poor number. Samsung, for comparison, is catching a lot of heat of poor sales that totaled 9 million units over the same time period, and that was just of one smartphone. Sony has even revised its estimate for smartphone sales in 2018, bringing that down to 9 million in total. 9t

Deal: Certified Refurbished Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus For $459 – July 2018 Woot is currently selling a slew of certified refurbished Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus smartphones, bringing the price down to just $459. Now these are certified refurbished, but there is still a warranty available, so if anything does go wrong with the phone, you'll still be covered. The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus was Samsung's biggest smartphone of 2017, with a 6.3-inch Quad HD+ Infinity Display, the Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4GB of RAM. There is also 64GB of storage here, so you can keep all of your music and pictures on your phone instead of the cloud. The Galaxy S8 Plus does not sport dual-cameras, instead it has a single 12-megapixel sensor that actually takes some really good pictures – and is one of the best cameras from last year and it still competes with 2018 flagship smartphones. The Galaxy S8 Plus also features a 3500mAh capacity battery, which should keep your phone running all

Most of us use our phones for alarm clocks in the morning, but normal alarm sounds can be so… alarming. If you happen to use the Google Clock app , you'll be happy to hear that you can now wake up to your favorite tunes on Spotify . That's right — Google is adding Spotify integration to its Clock app this week. After your phone receives the update, you'll see a new Spotify tab in the Clock app, right next to the Sounds tab. Swipe over to that tab, and you can select whichever songs or playlists you'd like to wake up to. After switching off your alarm, you'll have the option to switch the music off for good, or keep listening throughout your day. That sounds pretty handy. The best part? You don't even need a premium subscription for this to work. Both Spotify premium  and free users can wake up to their favorite songs with this new integration. Spotify support will roll out globally this week in the Play Store, and will work on all devices run

One of the major drawbacks of Google's incredibly powerful wireless company Project Fi is the very small list of compatible devices . What's worse, of the devices that Project Fi does accept, there aren't many cheap ones. However, one of the budget models that Project Fi supports is on sale right now at Newegg for only $200 : the Motorola Moto X4 . To be clear, this is an unlocked model and will work on any of the "Big Four" carriers in the United States (and a large selection of other carriers worldwide ). But while you can find tons of budget devices to work on those carriers, you're not going to find many phones to use on Project Fi for the $200 price that Newegg is asking. Best budget phones with (near) bezel-less displays The smartphone industry is a notoriously fickle beast where bold innovations are just a few fatal steps away from becoming the latest flash-in-the-pan gimmick. Every now and again though, there's a design qu

Just in case you needed further proof Sony's brand-new Xperia XZ2 Premium has started shipping at a slightly excessive price stateside, while the not-so-old Xperia XZ2 is outright scandalously expensive in India, B&H Photo Video has a couple of killer deals for the company's (few remaining) devoted fans. The same Sony Xperia XZ2 that's set to fetch the shocking equivalent of around $1,060 in the world's second-largest smartphone market is available, likely for a limited time only, from B&H in the US at a very reasonable price of $649.99. That's a solid $150 off the ... #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

If you haven't yet heard about  Pocket City , boy are you in for a treat. It's a premium single purchase simulation city-builder from Codebrew Games - a one-person indie studio from Toronto, Canada. It's your job as a new city mayor to strategically erect residential, commercial, and industrial zones, all while completing quests to gain XP and level up. If you are a fan of the classic SimCity PC games and are tired of all the nickel and diming free-to-play antics of the mobile gaming industry, you are going to want to give Pocket City a proper look as soon as possible. VIDEO The first thing I would like to point out that Pocket City is indeed a premium release. You can pick it up for the low cost of $4.99, and there are absolutely no in-app purchases or advertisements to worry about. More importantly, there is also a free limited demo available on the Play Store. This demo means we are all free try out the gameplay without putting any money down, and let

As you might already know, the easiest way in which you can gain full control over the Android system is by gaining root access. So, if you want to improve general performance on your Motorola Moto G6 you should first achieve root. Well, as you can already tell, we are here to help you out. […] #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

If you want a dual SIM smartphone, all your options have one thing in common: they run Android. That's about to change according to some lines of code found in the latest iOS 12 beta. A dual SIM iPhone is coming, and though the feature has yet to take off in the US, it could prove quite popular. Everyone should protect themselves from ransomware. Do you agree? Dual SIM compatibility isn't the first thing most people think about when they're shopping for a new smartphone, but there are plenty of reasons why it can be indispensable. You can have a single device for both work and your personal communications, saving you the trouble of dragging around two phones and keeping them charged all the time. Or, for those who travel regularly, you can keep your home SIM card in your phone while always being ready to hop on a plane to another country. If where you live is rural or has spotty coverage and you need to use more than one

Here is a quick guide on how Samsung owners can update touchscreen firmware on their Galaxy devices. It's unfortunately quite common for most smartphones that their touch screen becomes unresponsive or has some sort of delay. Often a times, this relates to some software problem which can be fixed. One thing you should try if […] The post Upgrade Touchscreen Firmware On Samsung Galaxy Devices appeared first on Team Android . #Google #Android #Smartphones #OS #News @ndrdnws #ndrdnws #AndroidNews

Philo is currently offering a deal for those that are looking to cut the cord. You can sign up for Philo and get three months of Pandora Premium for free, which is valued at about $30. Philo's plans start at just $16 per month, which is a pretty good deal for streaming TV, and also makes it the lowest streaming TV service out there right now. Philo is a fairly new streaming TV service, so some of the more popular channels are not yet available, but that is also how it is able to offer its service for lower than every other streaming TV service out there. For $16 per month, you get access to 40 channels. That includes big names like A&E, AMC, Animal Planet, BBC America, Cheddar, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HISTORY, Lifetime, MTV, MTV2, VICELAND and We, among others. Now for $20 per month you can bring that up to 49 channels, which includes American Heroes Network, BET Her, Cooking Channel and a few others. As you'll notice, a number of the Time Warner

Does the Wi-Fi in your home suck? Here are some tips for getting better coverage from your wireless router! Sure, it might be considered a "first-world problem", but shoddy or unreliable Wi-Fi is absolutely frustrating — especially when it's your home Wi-Fi network giving you fits. If your Wi-Fi signal strength seems to be lacking, there are several issues that could be contributing and a number of ways you can diagnose and address the issue. Common sense tips for troubleshooting your home Wi-Fi Before you do anything, first assess your router setup. All too often with older houses, the cable from your service provider comes through the basement, and unless you're willing to snake coaxial cable throughout your house your installation tech might just install your wireless modem in the basement. If you've got a multi-story house, the basement is less than ideal location, so the first tip is to try and move your router to a more central location in yo