Tag: Android

Back in January, I posted that Microsoft’s Age of Empires Castle Siege would be coming to Android.  While it missed the March deadline by a few days, the game is now available for your Android devices in the Play Store.  It makes Android the last platform for the mobile-centric game as it released back on iOS in January.

For those not familiar with Castle Siege, the game is a top-down tower defense style game where you select a civilization and begin building your empire.  The game starts with plenty of step-by-step tutorials so even if you have never played AoE you will get the hang of it pretty quickly.  Picking your civilization is important as each one has unique skills or technologies to it over others.  If you have played in the past then again, this will feel familiar.

In the latest update to the Netflix app for Android, there is a new and simpler rating system for content.  Gone are the up to 5 star ratings that users could give a television show, movie or Netflix original content.  Instead, it has been replaced with a thumbs up or thumbs down rating.  That’s it.  No middle ground.  It has become a binary “Did you like it or not?”  rating.

As you can guess, I’m not a fan.

I understand what the streaming content provider wants to do.  They want to make it less complicated for you to potentially try a TV show or movie.  Think about it: How many 3-star shows have you skipped over only to go back and watch it because it was recommended to you by a friend?  I know I’ve done it probably dozens of times over the years as a Netflix customer.  Which is exactly why they are getting rid of it.

Microsoft OneNote for Android has a new update that is rolling out which brings a handful of new features to the note taking app.  Perhaps the biggest new feature in the app is the ability to share a page with others.  If you are running Android Marshmallow or later, you can use the Share a Page feature from the Share pane so you can share your notes with others more quickly.  There is also an improved web clipper for Android in this release.  While it is still considered a Preview (translation:  beta) feature, it will allow you to capture anything on your store it in OneNote.

Along with these updates, there is improved Cut/Copy/Paste support along with the ability to access formatting tools quickly through the improved commanding bar in the app.

In an effort to meet the need of subscribers with slow connections, Twitter has introduced a new web-based Twitter Lite solution.  Twitter Lite is aimed for those on unstable or unreliable networks as well as those on slow connections.  Indeed, based on a report from GSMA, 45% of smartphone connections are on 2G speeds or slower.  Using data compression and other techniques, the Lite version of Twitter can launch about 30% quicker.  It is also more resilient on slow speed connections.

The new Lite version is accessed by going to mobile.twitter.com from your mobile device.  Once there, you will see that it looks pretty much like your normal Twitter feed.  Now tap on your profile avatar to go into Settings.  About halfway down you will see a new Data Saving feature which you can enable.  This further reduces the load of Twitter to your phone’s browser, by up to 70%.

Today’s Deal is on the first Project Tango enabled phone, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro.  Right now you can pick one up in Grey for $370.25 on Amazon.  That’s a healthy saving off the original price of $499.  For those who may not recall what exactly Project Tango is from Google, it is devices and apps that work in augmented reality.  These apps and now the Phab 2 Pro allow you to do thing like measure distances, fly through the solar system and other things all from the device.  A good example is the Lowe’s Vision app for Tango. It allows you to measure a space in your house and virtually put an appliance or other furniture you buy from Lowes in your house.

As for the Phab 2 Pro, you are getting a lot of horsepower in the package from Lenovo, starting with the 6.4″ display that renders 2560 x 1440.  Coupled with this is the Snapdragon 652 octa-core process running at 1.8GHz.

The Google WiFi app for Android has had an update rollout today that brings a great new feature for scheduling access time for certain devices.  Named Scheduled Pause, the new feature allows you to schedule times in which devices that you select are not able to gain WiFi access.  This is a great feature for parents who can block network access to their children’s phones or tablets while it is homework time or after bedtime.  While it won’t block things like 4G data use, it can at least give some control over the WiFi network in the house.

Once you have a schedule setup, you don’t have to do anything to enable it.  It runs and ends at the defined time you selected when setting it up and only impacts the devices you put on the list as being subject to that schedule.