Google Play Movies of all sorts have appeared available for purchase and rental for several Android devices today. These 4K versions of top-tier AAA film releases are appearing on the Google Play store right this minute - though not for all Android devices that support 4K. As Google suggests, Chromecast Ultra, Sony Bravia Android TVs, and Xiaomi's Mi Box 3 will have access right off the bat.
The Pixel Launcher for Android by Google seems to be ready to roll on more than just the Pixel and the Pixel XL. When the Google Pixel Launcher's launch became official, it was Pixel-only. While users will see the requirements for this app to only require Android 5.0, limits seemed to indicate that Pixel-branded phones were actually required.
It's been some time since we've heard about a new Nook e-reader device. That's because book retailer Barnes & Noble stopped making the tablet directly, instead licensing the brand to other manufacturers, such as Samsung. It appears that Barnes & Noble is going to take another stab at it, however, as an FCC listing has recently been discovered for the new Nook Tablet 7.
A short while after making the beta available, GIPHY Inc. has officially launched GIPHY Cam in the Google Play Store, making it available to all Android users. GIPHY Cam is just about the most fun and simple way to make creative GIFs with your phone, offering an interface not unlike what you find in Vine, but with its own flavors. After holding the record button to film a short looping GIF, users can spice it up with stickers, amusing animations, and more.
One of the most annoying things for mobile gamers who like to play on their smartphone is downloading a free or purchased game only to find out it's terrible a few minutes into play and delete the game. To help users find games they really like Google began to support streaming samples of games in December of 2015 but the catch was that the streaming was only for certain apps. As of today, the ability to try games via streaming before you buy has begun to roll out to more games.
Good news for those of you Chromebook Pixel 2 owners: you can now download Android apps on your device in a non-beta environment. Chromebook Pixel 2 users have been able to beta test Android apps on their device since back in July, but that kind of functionality was only limited to the Chromebook's developer channel. Now, however, it appears that the official update - stable Chrome 53 - is going live, after spending a few months in what was essentially a developer beta.
Google has announced that it will soon be offering low-bandwidth options for some its more popular apps within India. These low-bandwidth modes are coming to services like YouTube, Chrome, Google Play, and Google News, making them more accessible users who may not have access to the fastest internet connections or are limited severely in what they can do online by low data caps, which is a prevalent issue throughout the country.
Apple is bringing the fight against Spotify and Google Play Music straight to Android, finally launching the Android version of Apple Music on the Google Play Store this week. This launch follows an extended beta test that's been going on since November 2015, giving Apple plenty of time to collect feedback from users and implement changes to bring the app to the full release we're seeing now.
We've been seeing BlackBerry enter the realm of Android hardware with the release of the PRIV and the recently revealed DTEK50, but now the company is looking to make a splash on the software side of things. BlackBerry announced today that it's rolling out BlackBerry Hub+ to a wider range of Android phones, giving Android users who don't own BlackBerry hardware a chance to try out its software suite aimed at organizing their social lives.
After hearing about Google's plan to launch a family sharing feature for Google Play earlier in the month, the company announced today that it has finally gone live. Google Play has officially rolled out Family Library, which allows families of up to six people to share purchases across their devices. Families can share any eligible purchase with one another, be it an app, game, book, TV show, or movie.
This week the folks at Google have taken their Google Books platform to a new level at SDCC. Comic books - those participating in the project - will be coming alive (so to speak) with a service called Bubble Zoom. This feature will allow portions of each comic page to zoom and grow when a user's finger moves overhead. This could make the entire medium change and inspire comic artists to change the way they create comics. If nothing else, this feature will certainly make each page pop.
Competing as a game developer on the Google Play Store can be a tough proposition, especially as we see more and more professional game developers leave their big studios to start or join studios dedicated to mobile games. If you're one of those small-time game developers, good news: Google has announced that it will be giving independent developers a chance to have their moment in the spotlight later this year, when it hosts the Google Play Indie Games Festival in San Francisco.
