Tag: Android

The mobile analytics firm App Annie has pegged, for the first time, that the combined Android app stores in the market will out earn Apple’s App Store this year.  According to their report, they project that Android based stores will earn about $41 billion in 2017 compared to the $40 billion that Apple will earn with their app store.  The report is quick to point out that the Android numbers are a combination of the various app stores for Android that exist, such as Amazon’s Underground and Samsung’s app store.

If you strip down the report to just the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, Apple still leads the way.  The Google branded store will account for $20 billion of the projected $41 billion this year but the Apple store alone churns $40 billion in earnings.

After being announced last week followed by a limited roll out, the new location sharing feature of Google Maps has rolled out to the masses.  Users can expect the feature to be enabled in the Google Maps app shortly if it isn’t there already.  You will find the new feature located on the menu of the app.

The feature works cross platform (and on the web) and allows you to share your location or your status on a journey with others that you choose.  That sharing can be limited to a specific time period for sharing while the sharing of your journey will automatically end when you arrive at your destination.  It is more-or-less a return of the old Latitudes product but is more refined.

The Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are launching today and we already know a lot about these two new phones.  We also have their new wallpapers that will be shipping with the phones.  All three of the wallpapers are views of nature and all three are pretty stunning.  I’ve added these wallpapers to the Wallpaper page here on the site so you can download them to your phone.  In addition, I’ve added them to this post below the break so for those who are interested in them can move along.

To save them to your phone, just tap-and-hold the image on your phone or right-click on your PC/Chromebook/Mac.

The new Huawei P10 is just now hitting retailers for purchase and it has already received its first maintenance update.  The new 5.1″ phone has a small update that brings some improvements to the camera as well as general performance improvements.  Specifically, the camera app has been updated so it does not crash when launched or when you launch the camera from Google Assistant.  It also addresses an issue with the camera preview not rendering correctly.

Along with these camera improvements, the software update fixes some stability and performance issues on the phone.

Microsoft Cortana, the company’s digital assistant, has been updated for Android with the ability to interact with it from your lock screen.  Two weeks ago, Cortana was updated for Android adding the ability to have it on your lock screen.  From there, you could access your calendar, news and other information.  What you could not do, however, was interact with it by voice.  That has now changed.

With the version 2.6 update, which is rolling out now, you can ask Cortana questions just as you can when your device is unlocked and you tap the Cortana button.  You can ask the service a question, set a reminder for a task or event from your lock screen.

Chrome for Android has a small update rolling out for users of the browser.  The update remains in the Chrome 57 train, with the version number updated to 57.0.2987.126.  The update is a minor one and mainly focuses on addressing a crash issue that some users were experiencing.  If you have been experiencing stability issues with the browser on your Android device, this update hopefully will address those issues for you.

In addition, the Chrome team indicated in the release notes that some improvements around CSS and performance regressions are in this update with the crash fix.