Tag: Microsoft

Microsoft has officially – and finally – released an official Xbox app for Android.  The new app, which is more-or-less a replacement for the current Smartglass app (which you can still use), brings you an all new Home experience with an activity feed, see trending content, find friends and other Xbox centric activities all from your phone or tablet.  For those of us who have the console, this new app is very much a welcome addition and shows, again, Microsoft’s commitment to their “mobile first” strategy by offering apps on both Android and iOS in addition to their own beleaguered Windows Phone platform.  Up until this point, you could only get the app for Windows Phone.

The Skype team over at Microsoft have released a dramatically improved version of the voice and video communications app for Android.  The new 7.0 version of the app is hitting the Google Play Store now and if you already have it installed, you should see the update hit your device via an OTA over the course of the next few days.  The big improvement in this new update is the new Material Design inspired UI on tablets.

We’ve redesigned the tablet UI from the ground up, bringing a number of material design inspired elements.

The app also has a Floating Action Button (FAB) that makes it much faster to start a conversation or call with Skype app.  That FAB is in both the tablet and phone versions of the app.

Microsoft’s Next Lock Screen, their Lock screen app for Android phones, has had another significant update today, bringing a host of fixes and improvements to the app.  The updated build is version 3.2 for those keeping score at home and the first thing you will notice is a streamlined and improved UI with a new color scheme.  Microsoft is driving to emphasize that this app is very much location aware and their new logo and look are meant to reflect that fact.

If you aren’t familiar with Next Lock Screen, it is a lock screen app that provides you notifications, calendar updates and now an app usage aware quick launchpad all from your lock screen.  It is actually a very informative and elegant lock screen app that gives you a good amount of information without having to actually unlock your device.  So why use a lock screen app like this instead of the Android built-in lock screen?  Mainly so you can get more customized information.

Today over at Amazon, you can take advantage of a sale the retailer is having on various Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions.  The discounts vary by package but if you chose the Office 365 Home or Office 365 Personal, it gives you free access to the full features of the Office apps for Android on your phone or tablet.  Even if you are already an Office 365 subscriber, you can take advantage of the sale.

Office 365 Home allows you to install the full Office suite on up to 5 PCs or Macs plus 5 tablets and 5 phones.  That package is on sale today for $89.99, a savings of 10%.  It is delivered to you by download (you will get the key to add the suite to your Microsoft Office account) and this isn’t just the web versions but the full PC or Mac versions too.