Tag: Android

Although it is still an exclusive for iOS users, Super Mario Run looks to be coming to Android soon.  In the Google Play Store you will now find a listing for the new game as well as the ability to pre-register for it.  Pre-registering will assure that you get a notification on your phone when the game is available, likely sometime this quarter.  You will then be able to go to the store to purchase it and install it.

As for the game itself, Nintendo describes game play as…

In this game, Mario constantly moves forward through the courses while you use a variety of jumps to navigate. Mario will behave differently depending on the timing of your taps, so it’s up to you to show off particularly smooth moves, gather coins, and reach the goal.

The announcement of the game back in October at an Apple event was one of the highlights for that event and one that got a lot of people excited to see a classic video game, at least in character, come to mobile devices.

If you pay for Google Drive storage, there are some changes rolling out that you need to be aware of going forward.  From now on your Drive subscription will be managed within the Google Play Store like your other subscription apps.  Gone will be the separate purchasing and process for adding storage to your account.  Instead, for Android users, it will all roll up into the Play Store where you can manage all of your subscriptions (like Google Play Music) from one place.

The new process won’t effect anything you have to do as an end user.  Google is migrating accounts to Google Play Store and you should have received an email on this in December.  Once your account is converted over, you will see it as part of your subscriptions in the store.

Over at Amazon you can still pick up the Nextbit Robin for $149.   I reviewed the Robin a few months ago and at the time I said it was a pretty good deal at $299.  At $149, it is one of the best deals on a phone with these specs out there right now.  Over the holidays the phone was $169 on Amazon so this price drop makes it the lowest price the phone has ever been available.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.  You can read my review of the Robin to see all my thoughts on this great little phone.  I also think it is perhaps one of the most underrated phones of 2016.

It has been a good week for Google Home users.  First came the integration with Netflix and Google Photos earlier in the week.  Second, and just yesterday, a slew of new bots were added to Google Home to help you get news, information, how to’s and even play games, all from voice commands to your Home.  The new bots, 34 of them in all, are available under the Services section of the app on your Android phone.  I’m referring to them as bots because you have to specifically tell Home which service to talk to and you get automated information back from that service.  It is much like a chat bot – just using your voice instead.

The list of services is pretty impressive and all of them are enabled by default.  You just have to tell Home which one you want to access.  This is done by saying “Hey Google, let me talk to about ”.  As an example, you can talk to Dominos and track your order or, equally as important, order your saved Easy Order.  Yes the fact you have to tell Home to which service to use is a bit awkward but I suspect that this will improve over time just as Home in general has improved.

After several days of customer and general tech community backlash, Evernote has reversed their policy that would have allowed a select number of their employees read your notes.  The change was announced late last night on the Evernote Blog where it is made clear, in bold, that employees will not be able to read your notes without your express permission.  Good.

In addition, we will make machine learning technologies available to our users, but no employees will be reading note content as part of this process unless users opt in. We will invite Evernote customers to help us build a better product by joining the program.

Frankly, this is how this should have been in the first place and it is good to see the company respond to consumers and their customers.

Instagram has a nice new feature in the latest build of their app for Android.  The new 10.2 version has a save feature that allows you to save posts in a private area of your account for viewing later.  The new version is rolling out from the Play Store now so everyone should see it in the next day or two.  Once you do have it, the new save feature is easy to use.  Just open up Instagram on your phone and below each photo, on the right, you will see a bookmark-like icon.  That’s the save feature.  When you see a photo or video you want to save for later, just tap that icon and it is bookmarked to your account.  It is quick and simple to use and a great way to save those posts that you want to remember or reference later.