Category: Android

The American Airlines app for Android has received a nice update today that brings support for Android Wear devices.  Now once you have viewed your boarding pass within the app on your phone, you will have it available on your watch for quicker boarding of your flight.  It’s one of the latest apps to support Android Wear and one that busy travelers who have Wear devices will likely find quite, erm, handy.  For those keeping score at home, the updated version is 4.0.1 and it is available now in the Google Play Store.

American Airlines for Android – Free – Download Now

Microsoft continues to improve their apps for Android and the latest update to Outlook for Android is a case-in-point.  The latest update brings with it a much improved Agenda Widget which you can install on a page on your Android phone to give a quick glance at your upcoming events.  This update, version 1.2.9 for those keeping score at home, also brings performance improvements and bug fixes to the email, calendar and contact app.

Outlook for Android – Free – Download Now

Today over at Amazon you can score a great deal on the dual-SIM BLU Studio 6 HD Android phablet for only $140.83.  That is a 25% savings off the regular price of $189.00.  The 6″ display device was recently announced to be receiving the Lollipop update this month which makes it even better considering not every phone will get the latest build of Android.  The sale is on the 8GB storage version of the device (which can be expanded up to an additional 64GB via the MicroSD slot) which has a 6″ 720 x 1280 display.  If you are looking for a phablet experience without the phablet price, this is on to take a look at today.

BLU Studio 6.0 HD Smartphone – Unlocked – Black

The cloud storage app Google Drive has been updated for Android devices, bringing with it several performance improvements along with improvements to the built-in PDF viewer.  The update, version 2.2.182.17.35 for those keeping score at home, is available now for all Android devices.

Google has indicated in the release notes that this update to Google Drive brings performance and interface improvements.  In my testing of this update this morning, the update appears to have solved some lagging performance.  I have not noted any interface improvements but it could simply be that Google is referring to these performance improvements of the interface and not changes to the interface itself.  Regardless, it does appear that the update makes the app a bit more snappy in performance on my BLU VIVO IV.

Google Drive for Android – Free – Download Now

On the same day that Major League Baseball has released MLB At Bat for Windows Phone, the league has also issued an update to the MLB Ballpark for Android app as well. While there are no new features to the baseball park companion app, there are some general performance improvements that make it worth updating to for anyone who uses the app.  For those keeping score at home (an old term used during the heyday of baseball on radio) the new version is 4.1.0

If you aren’t familiar with it, MLB Ballpark is a companion app that you have on your phone when you visit any of the 30 major league stadiums.  There you can check in, get promotional information and discounts (depends on the ballpark and if they are running any) and even get discounts on merchandise.  You can also get information on the stadium itself and check in from your seats.  If you check in you can also upload photos from your seats so others can share in your vantage point.

MLB Ballpark for Android – Free – Download Now

Earlier today I posted that Microsoft had released a preview of their Office apps for Android Phone today. The new Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are stand alone individual apps that are far superior to the old Office Mobile and are in line with the path that the company is making for Office across all device platforms. I’ve spent a fair amount of time today with each of them and wanted to provide some quick feedback on them to everyone who is on the fence about downloading them. First I’m going to take a look at Word for Android Phone and I’ll post similar quick looks for Excel and PowerPoint later on in the week.

Word for Android Phone is really impressive and if you have used it on your Android tablet you are going to find the experience very similar – exactly what Microsoft is trying to achieve.  Within the app you can create and edit documents on devices with screens 10.1″ or smaller but to get all the benefits of it, you really need an Office 365 account.  An Office 365 Personal account is $69.99 and available from the Microsoft Store or you can go with Office 365 Home where you can install the Office apps on up to 5 PCs or Macs along with mobile devices.