The key to Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon GO has been shared by one of its main developers. Niantic's software engineering director Ed Wu spoke to the point today in an interview, suggesting that he wouldn't be able to give all the details, but... There is something to be said about which players will gain access to Legendary Pokemon and which wouldn't. Legendary Pokemon won't be accessible to everyone.
WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps available, and so there are likely going to be some users disappointed today: the app is dropping support for older phone platforms. This isn't a surprise, as the company gave a fair warning in the recent past that this day was coming. It's not all bad news, though -- WhatsApp has also announced an extension for certain devices.
According to an email sent by Wileyfox this week, their first smartphone will be updated away from CyanogenMod this week. Despite this - somehow - Wileyfox Account Executive Michelle Johal suggests that "all user's experience will remain unchanged." Johal went on to say, "This was expected and we are confident with the smooth transition planned in an upcoming over-the-air update for the entire Wileyfox product range that will migrate away from Cyanogen’s refocus strategy, and on to a purer Android experience – enhanced."
This week another Android device less than 2-years old has been announced to be at its end-of-life for Android updates. It is my opinion that this happens all too often - that while it isn't necessarily Google's fault this happens, it should be made more clear. Clarity should be the name of the game when it comes to the promise of a smartphone that'll last. Clarity should be at the forefront of the presentation of a brand new smartphone - especially when it costs several hundred dollars.
Google has announced a big update to Google Play Music. The update brings machine learning to the table in an effort to figure out what music you like based on what you are doing. The machine learning algorithm takes into account your location, activity, weather and playlists to personalize the music for where you are and what you are doing. The new updates roll out this week on Android, iOS, and the web.
Google Nexus smartphones are still for sale by Google as of the release of this article - or at least they would appear to be, at first. If one searches for Google Nexus devices in Google's own search engine, the page Google dot com slash Nexus still shows Google Nexus smartphones, including both the 5X and the 6P. "BUY NOW" buttons are also still in play, allowing the user to select which color device they'd like, only then to be sent to the Google Store's standard front page, which is currently stocked up full of everything "Made by Google", including Pixel phones but no Nexus.
This week the folks at Niantic have updated Pokemon GO with several new features that'll affect gameplay. In a big way, users that only have an Android Nexus device, like the Nexus 6 or Nexus 6P, will actually BE ABLE to play the game as it's been updated to include Android N, or Android Nougat in its usability structure. It works on Android N, in other words. This newest update also opens the doors for Germany as well as all Android devices with Intel x86 processors.
Back in April we got news that the folks at AT&T were testing the Samsung Galaxy S6 for inclusion in the Android Marshmallow update. The Galaxy S7 has that as well, regardless of your carrier - now it's time for the rest of the Galaxy crew to get onboard. As of this week, AT&T subscribers will be seeing Marshmallow updates for the Galaxy Note 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, at long last.
The excess of settings available with ADW Launcher 2.0 is absolutely insane. It's as if the creators of this app decided to take everything Google recommends about keeping in line with their Material Design language and threw it directly out the window. You can do basically anything you want with this launcher, up to and including making your Android smartphone or tablet look like a masterpiece - or an absolute mess. That's on you.
Today Google has delivered their latest Android Distribution chart showing how the newest versions of the platform are reaching the masses. Together, Android 5.x Lollipop and 6.0 Marshmallow have a 33.1% increase over this same market point last year. That means two things - first, that Android devices continue to sell well new around the world. Second, that there's a large number of Android lovers out there updating their devices as often as possible.
Android just got a whole lot smarter. This afternoon Google released new abilities for Now On Tap, a system built in to Android Marshmallow. Users can now use their smartphone's camera to find out information about whatever is in front of them. This functionality is not strictly new to Android - we've seen it before in an infamous and sorely under-used app by the name of Google Goggles. Remember Google Goggles? They're back.
This week Verizon has released a list of current and near-future updates to Android device versions, starting with the Samsung Galaxy S5. At long last, this device has received its update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, just a few weeks (or months) after its closest brethren. As for the rest of the Android universe, we've got some good news and we've got some bad news. Verizon has provided a list of what's happening, what's happened, and what's about to happen.
