Android Tablet Apps Get Their Turn In The Google Spotlight

Google is about to give tablet apps a big visibility boost in its Android Google Play app store. Starting November 21, Android tablet users who open the Google Play Store will by default first see apps designated “Designed for tablets.”

Google said back in May that it planned to highlight tablets apps in the Google Play store, but until now it hasn't done much on that front. With the new change, any Android tablet user will first see tablet-specific apps in the Top Grossing, Top New Paid, Top New Free and Trending sections of Google Play.

First, Developers Must Toe Google's Line

To be included in the new section of Google Play, developers will need to follow Google’s optimization tips for Android tablet development. Android developers won't simply be able to repurpose a smartphone app and call it a tablet app. Google Play will market apps that aren't designed for tablets as “Designed for phones.”

See also: How The iPad Stalled And Android Took Over The Tablet Market
Developers can see if their apps meet Google’s tablet standards by checking the “Optimization Tips” section in the Google Play Developer Console. At a minimum, compliant apps must target Android versions that support tablets (Android 3.0 Honeycomb and up), use the “Large” and “XLarge” settings in Google’s screen targeting formats and include at least two screen shots of their apps running on 7-inch and 10-inch tablets.

Google also has a tablet app quality checklist with 12 important aspects to note when building for tablets. Developers should be able to target the appropriate hardware and Android versions for their tablet apps, optimize for screen size and the extra space on a tablet, use the appropriately sized icons for tablets, adjust touch targets and use the appropriate tablet grids for widgets and icons and be a fully functional tablet app (as opposed to a crippled version of the smartphone app).

Google has taken a lot of interest in increasing the quality of Android apps over the last year. To fight the perception—sometimes right, sometimes wrong—that Android apps are inferior to iOS apps, it released a series of guidelines and developer techniques to improve the appearance and performance of Android apps. In effect, Google is now offering the "Designed for tablets" promotion as a carrot to help enforce its tablet guidelines.

70 Million Android Tablets And Counting

Google says that it has activated 70 million Android tablets and that one out of every two tablets purchased these days run Android. The timing of the “Designed for tablets” launch is interesting, in that it's scheduled exactly a week before Thanksgiving and Black Friday and the start of the holiday shopping season. We may also see Google’s latest update of Android—version 4.4 KitKat—announced in the same general timeframe, perhaps along with two or three new devices in its Nexus line of gadgets (a smartphone, a 7-inch and a 10-inch tablet).

See also: Tablet Developers: Build Productive Apps, Not Games
The message to consumers will be that Android tablet apps are just as good (and plentiful) as apps made for Apple’s iPad. Apple’s iOS App Store has about 900,000 apps currently with about 375,000 designed specifically for the iPad. In comparison, Google’s tablet app ecosystem has looked fairly paltry—one reasons users often cite for picking an iPad or iPad Mini over an Android tablet. Microsoft says that Windows 8 has about 150,000 apps in its store.

Facebook Redesigns Messenger, Removes Text Messaging On Android

Facebook continues to boost its mobile apps and now they have redesigned their Messenger app for both Android and iOS. This time, it is less Facebook and more messaging with a visually appealing design that might force you ditch WhatsApp particularly with a feature that lets you find your Facebook friends if you have their phone numbers. More on this after the break.

The app is not Facebook Messenger, it is only Messenger. Facebook has renamed the app to make it more of a messaging app and less of a Facebook app. It is not available to everyone at the moment and is being tested among a group of Android users. The app will roll out to everyone on Android and iOS in the coming weeks.

The contact pictures are now rounded – that surely comes from Google+ but it does look pretty and hence most mobile apps have rounded contact pictures. The app’s design no longer looks anywhere close the official Facebook app, instead it has a minimalist design. The contact pictures have a badge on them which let you know if your friend is using the Messenger app or is sending messages via web. This helps you identify if your friend can instantly receive your messages or not. The badge was previously available in the list of contacts online towards the right side of the app. Placing it on the contact picture is definitely a good move as it becomes more noticeable.

The Messenger app on Android would be much faster now as it will no longer support text messaging. You will no longer be able to send text messages to your friends’ phone numbers. With Android 4.4 on its way, selection of the default messaging app rests in the user’s hands. Google Hangouts will however replace SMS app in Android if we were to believe some leaks posted online.

Though you can not send text messages, Messenger will let you text friends via Facebook provided you have their phone numbers. This doesn’t require you to be friends with the person you are texting. Facebook guarantees that the text will be delivered to your friend’s inbox and not to the Other folder. Upon startup, Messenger will ask you for your phone number. After you enter your phone number, Messenger will show you a list of people whose number resides in your contacts but you are not friends with. This is similar to how WhatsApp works.

Cover Is An Android-Only Lockscreen That Shows Apps When You Need Them

You have more apps than you know what to do with, but Cover could fix that. It’s an Android lockscreen replacement launching (invite-only) today that adapts to show your top productivity apps at work, favorite chill out apps at home, and driving apps in the car. With a $1.7 million seed led by First Round Capital, Cover is proudly Android-first and -only, and could expose the inflexibility of iOS.

“Now’s the time to be betting on Android” I’m excitedly told by lauded venture capitalist Josh Kopelman, who spearheaded First Round’s investment in Cover. The startup’s CEO Todd Jackson mirrors Josh’s passion for the open operating system. “The Android ecosystem and market is huge, yet every other startup goes iOS first. There are all these users used to getting things second and that sucks. There’s a huge market opportunity. I really want Android users to say, ‘Finally, a company building for Android first.’”

Cover couldn’t work on any other OS. It leverages all the super powers of Android — replacing the lockscreen, knowing when you use your other apps, monitoring your sensors to determine what apps to bring up, and even modifying your ringer settings on the fly.

With Cover, Context Is King And Speed Is Queen

Once you sign up for a Cover invite and get one,  the startup puts you in its beta tier and you’ll see Cover in the Google Play Store. Once installed, it takes over your lockscreen, but leaves your homescreen launcher and all the customization you put into it intact. The only set up questions it asks are your work and home address.



Cover establishes a geo-fence around these locations and whenever you go there, the left side of your lockscreen shows a column of six of your apps that fit that situation. At first, these suggestions are crowdsourced, so you’ll see popular business apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, LinkedIn, and Asana at work, or Netflix, Kindle, and Facebook at home. With time, though, Cover learns your habits and personalizes itself to show your favorite apps for these occasions.

When you’re outside these geo-fences, you’ll see your on-the-go apps like Twitter and Facebook. Plug in your headphones and your music apps pop up. And If Cover detects accelerometer patterns that suggest you’re in a car, it brings up Waze and Google Maps. When Jackson demo’d Cover for me,  and manually brought up ‘driving mode’, Cover revealed Gmail for him. “Uh, oh” he said a little ashamed. “Red lights, dude.”

Cover’s “Peek” feature is the fastest way to open apps I’ve ever seen. Start pulling an app icon to the right and the lockscreen slides away to reveal the app’s innards as if it was open all along. This makes it remarkably quick to check notifications in a slew of apps.

Sequence 01.Still001Cover

Cover’s rapid app-switching lets you drag down from the top right corner of your phone at any time, even inside other apps, to reveal shortcuts to your most recently used apps and top ones based on your current context. It eliminates all those extra homescreen buttons so you can quickly jump back and forth between maps and messaging.

Finally, smart settings let you tell Cover you want your phone’s ringer muted at work and after midnight at home, but on full-blast if you’re out and about or home in the afternoon.

It was hard not to be impressed by Cover. The right apps at your fingertips which you can instantly preview and bounce between. And since I typically carry and iPhone, it made me a bit jealous. That’s a dangerous concept for Apple, whose business is built on being coveted.

iOS: Closed To Innovation

The iPhone used to be far and away the best smartphone. Android were clunkers. But over the last few years, Android manufacturers including Samsung and HTC have built some beautiful devices like the Galaxy S4 and HTC One with next-level features like gaze tracking. Jackson jokes “whereas the iPhone vs two years ago…it has a fingerprint scanner and comes in different colors.”

Cover PeekMeanwhile, the Android software is advancing by leaps and bounds. There are still magical flourishes in iOS 7 that give it unmatched polish, but without as big of a hardware or software advantage, Apple’s price points could get harder to swallow.



Its lack of flexibility isn’t doing Apple any favors. The last few years we’ve seen a wave of powerful Android-only apps emerge. There’s auto-categorized contextual homescreen Aviate, crowdsourced phone book and call-blocking app Mr Number, and even the maligned Facebook Home. (Aviate and Home are both Cover competitors, but wash away your carefully organized homescreen while Cover is a hide-able layer on top). They’re are all powerful, but either a bit complicated and niche, or change too much of your phone’s experience.

What they succeed at, though, is making iOS look rigid. Whether it’s Cover or another, if there’s a blockbuster hit Android-only app, it will expose the stubbornness of the closed iOS development platform, and combined with rapidly improving Android hardware and software, could make a bunch of people ditch their iPhone when it’s time to upgrade.

A Home For Wayward Android Engineers

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cover was the messiah of Android. It provides a ton of value with minimal work, and you don’t have to sacrifice your existing customization. With one swipe, Cover disappears and reveals your old homescreen with all your folders and widgets.

Investors believe too. Along with Josh Kopelman andFirst Round Capital, Cover’s $1.7 million seed round comes from Harrison Metal Capital (Michael Dearing), Max Levchin, Scott Banister, Charlie Cheever, Keith Rabois, Dave Girouard, and Alex Franz — a mighty cap table.

Cover LogoKopelman tells me “We fund a fair number of companies but this one gets me really passionate and excited because I see the future here.” Charlie Cheever tells me “looking around on airplanes or public places, I’m seeing the percentage of android phones going up and up, but there’s not much focus from developer community on it. There’s a big opportunity to make [the Android software] much better.”

They’re betting on a team that really understands context. Jackson was a product manager at Google from 2004 to 2011, where he led feature development on Gmail for four years before working on News Feed and photos at Facebook for a year. Co-founder and CTO Edward Ho was a product director at Google+ from 2011 to 2012, and a Google software engineer for four years before that. Co-founder Gordon Luk brings design and user experience chops with him from his work as an indie game developer after selling the events company Upcoming.org he co-founded to Yahoo in 2005.

Together, they’re looking to hire Android developers who are sick of just porting iOS apps. “There are lots of talented Android engineers stuck at iOS-first companies.” While Cover is simple, it’s still a radical new way to use your phone. It’s challenge, and the easiest way it could fail, will be trying to fundamentally change our mobile behavior.

Cover, A Gateway To App Discovery

While Cover could be great for users, it may actually help other developers too. People are becoming weary of downloading too many apps because it’s a pain to organize them and tough to remember to use them. Cover could wash away that mental cost of downloading more apps, allowing other devs to find an audience.



It might even be able to make money on discovery. While Jackson was adamant that the first two phases for Cover are building a great product and growing its userbase, eventually when it monetizes, it could be by suggesting apps for the right occasion that you haven’t downloaded yet.

vertical_graphicImagine going to a tech conference where you didn’t know there was a schedule app. Cover could see everyone else in your vicinity is using it, and suggest you download it too. Loyalty app companies might pay to have their apps suggested when you’re at restaurants they work with. Or if you’ve been playing games for 20 minutes, Cover might recommend other apps by your favorite developers…if they pay.

One day, Cover could even take contextual computing beyond managing your apps, and use your surroundings and habits to deliver you pure information. Jackson dreams aloud, “Imagine if Cover v2 could prioritize push notifications. When I get Fab (shopping app) notifications at work I never open them but at home I do.” Cover could know to save those alerts until you get home. It could bump up the frequency of breaking news notifications when you’re using leisure app, but mute them in the car.

Jackson concludes, echoing Kopelman, “There’s so much more on Android that we think it’s an invest-able area and now is the time.”

LG Google TV models receiving Android 4.2.2 update

Better late than never, as they say. LG‘s promised update to a number of its Google TV units is now rolling out to owners of GA6400 series, and probably G3 series soon as well, bumping the Android version on those devices to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and saying goodbye to an era of Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

LG promised the Android update back at Google I/O earlier this year but it was only this month that the manufacturer was heard to be ready to push it out, which is a bit understandable considering the big jump in terms of base Android versions, APIs, and functionality. The most jarring change, however, comes from the switch of the Chrome web browser from the PC version to the Android version. This practically removes support for Flash plugins, especially video players.

The fate of Google TV has been up in the air for quite some time now ever since Google launched its Chromecast streaming HDMI dongle. While Google insists that there is room for both pieces of technology, and we quite agree, the silence from other Google TV partners and even from Google itself doesn’t spark much confidence. LG seems to be the only one actively moving forward with its Google TV plans, even going so far as filing trademarks for potential new devices.

Other manufacturers, however, have been quite slow in making such moves, or even in rolling out much needed updates to existing devices. With Google itself reported to be trying to shed off the “Google TV” moniker in favor of a more generic “with Google services” marketing label, the future of Google TV remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary

Six years ago, in November 2007, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) was announced. The original iPhone came out just a few months earlier, capturing people's imaginations and ushering in the modern smartphone era. While Google was an app partner for the original iPhone, it could see what a future of unchecked iPhone competition would be like. Vic Gundotra, recalling Andy Rubin's initial pitch for Android, stated:

Google was terrified that Apple would end up ruling the mobile space. So, to help in the fight against the iPhone at a time when Google had no mobile foothold whatsoever, Android was launched as an open source project.

In that era, Google had nothing, so any adoption—any shred of market share—was welcome. Google decided to give Android away for free and use it as a trojan horse for Google services. The thinking went that if Google Search was one day locked out of the iPhone, people would stop using Google Search on the desktop. Android was the "moat" around the Google Search "castle"—it would exist to protect Google's online properties in the mobile world.

Today, things are a little different. Android went from zero percent of the smartphone market to owning nearly 80 percent of it. Android has arguably won the smartphone wars, but "Android winning" and "Google winning" are not necessarily the same thing. Since Android is open source, it doesn't really "belong" to Google. Anyone is free to take it, clone the source, and create their own fork or alternate version.

As we've seen with the struggles of Windows Phone and Blackberry 10, app selection is everything in the mobile market, and Android's massive install base means it has a ton of apps. If a company forks Android, the OS will already be compatible with millions of apps; a company just needs to build its own app store and get everything uploaded. In theory, you'd have a non-Google OS with a ton of apps, virtually overnight. If a company other than Google can come up with a way to make Android better than it is now, it would be able to build a serious competitor and possibly threaten Google's smartphone dominance. This is the biggest danger to Google's current position: a successful, alternative Android distribution.

And a few companies are taking a swing at separating Google from Android. The most successful, high-profile alternative version of Android is Amazon's Kindle Fire. Amazon takes AOSP, skips all the usual Google add-ons, and provides its own app store, content stores, browser, cloud storage, and e-mail. The entire country of China skips the Google part of Android, too. Most Google services are banned, so the only option there is an alternate version. In both of these cases, Google's Android code is used, and it gets nothing for it.

It's easy to give something away when you're in last place with zero marketshare, precisely where Android started. When you're in first place though, it's a little harder to be so open and welcoming. Android has gone from being the thing that protects Google to being something worth protecting in its own right. Mobile is the future of the Internet, and controlling the world's largest mobile platform has tons of benefits. At this point, it's too difficult to stuff the open source genie back into the bottle, which begs the question: how do you control an open source project?

Google has always given itself some protection against alternative versions of Android. What many people think of as "Android" actually falls into two categories: the open parts from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which are the foundation of Android, and the closed source parts, which are all the Google-branded apps. While Google will never go the entire way and completely close Android, the company seems to be doing everything it can to give itself leverage over the existing open source project. And the company's main method here is to bring more and more apps under the closed source "Google" umbrella.

Closed source creep

There have always been closed source Google apps. Originally, the group consisted mostly of clients for Google's online services, like Gmail, Maps, Talk, and YouTube. When Android had no market share, Google was comfortable keeping just these apps and building the rest of Android as an open source project. Since Android has become a mobile powerhouse though, Google has decided it needs more control over the public source code.

For some of these apps, there might still be an AOSP equivalent, but as soon as the proprietary version was launched, all work on the AOSP version was stopped. Less open source code means more work for Google's competitors. While you can't kill an open source app, you can turn it into abandonware by moving all continuing development to a closed source model. Just about any time Google rebrands an app or releases a new piece of Android onto the Play Store, it's a sign that the source has been closed and the AOSP version is dead.

Search

We'll start with the Search app, which is an excellent example of what happens when Google duplicates AOSP functionality.

In August 2010, Google launched Voice Actions. With it, the company introduced "Google Search" into the (then) Android Market. These were the days of Froyo. The above picture shows the latest version of AOSP Search and Google Search running on Android 4.3. As you can see, AOSP Search is still stuck in the days of Froyo (Android 2.2). Once Google had its closed source app up and running, it immediately abandoned the open source version. The Google version has search by voice, audio search, text-to-speech, an answer service, and it contains Google Now, the company's predictive assistant feature. The AOSP version can do Web and local searches and... that's it.

Locket Launches A Developer Toolkit That Lets App Publishers Push Ads To Android Lockscreens

Locket, the Android app that pays you (in tiny amounts) just for unlocking your smartphone, is today launching a toolkit for app developers that will allow them to publish their own content to users’ lock screens. That means when users see ads for apps on their phone’s screen, they can open up the app itself with just a swipe, similar to how a push notification works.

Launched this summer, Locket is an early mover in the U.S. market to bring the concept of lockscreen ads to Android users. The company competes with the likes of Seoul, South Korea-based LatteScreen, which only recently began targeting the American audience with its existing product. But Locket is already seeing some traction stateside – it recently hired Charity Sabater, formerly of Candy Crush-maker King, to lead sales, and says that it has grown its footprint to roughly 300,000 users since launching just a few months ago.

The idea, for those unfamiliar, is that of an opt-in experience where Locket displays ads on the phone’s lockscreen that you can choose to engage with or not by swiping to unlock your phone. These ads, for brands, businesses, movies, apps and more, can take users to websites, Facebook Pages, coupons, or movie trailers, for example, or they can just launch the app in question, as is the case with those publishers adopting the new Locket SDK.

The company was founded in March by Yunha Kim, Paul Jang, and Christopher Crawford who were inspired to create a new market in mobile advertising for what they call “first-glance” ads. Locket serves over 10 million impressions every day, and to date, it has served over 1 billion impressions.  It’s also seeing several big-name advertisers testing its service.

More than 20 advertisers have run campaigns to date, including Hershey’s, Sunny D, Sears, ZipCar, eBay, Spotify and others, and more than 80 percent of advertisers renew with Locket. On average, the CTR on their campaigns is anywhere from 3 to 5 percent, Kim notes.

Whether or not users click through, they’re still paid. At launch, this was 1 cent per swipe, capped at 3 cents per hour. That model has now changed. Instead, users receive 1 cent for the new, unique ad of the day. Explains Kim, “if we show users 30 different ads (because people check their phone 110 times on average), they get 30 cents. Sometimes we show 20 ads (20 cents), sometimes we show 40 ads (40 cents), depending on the ad inventory we have.” In other words, Locket only makes you money when it does.

She tells us that the idea for launching the Locket SDK came from when one of the top three movie app companies reached out to the startup with a request to use a Locket SDK to publish movie ads and commercials to users’ lockscreens.

“We didn’t think about doing that at all before, but we found out that this will be a game changer for the app industry…By using our SDK, they get to have 110 chances for a single user to engage with their app,” says Kim, adding that can increase user engagement by 8x over the publishers’ current system – push notifications powered by Urban Airship.

At launch, the SDK is being adopted by five app publishers, but Locket isn’t allowed to name who, only saying that they are in “movies, entertainment, music, lifestyle as well as games.”

The SDK is also being made available for free to the top 10 apps that Locket is now working with, and Locket will continue to approve which publishers can and cannot use the SDK to serve lockscreen ads. Interested app publishers should reach out to Locket directly to learn more.

Netflix updates Android app with faster, smoother navigation

Netflix for Android is getting a much-needed tune-up. In an update that's beginning to roll out, Netflix is removing the lag and stutter that's long plagued its Android app, and turning into an appropriately snappy experience that performs as well as you'd expect. The design is also seeing a small refresh to better match Android's design guidelines, with the app's navigation bar now including a more traditional button layout. According to Android Police, which first spotted the update, the new Netflix app also works better with Chromecast, thanks to improved in-app controls and a less obtrusive interface when accessing it on the lock screen.

Android users hoping to clean up their Netflix recommendations will still have to wait, however: the app still doesn't include support for Netflix's new profiles feature, which allows individual users to have separate recommendations and queues on the same account. After launching the profiles feature over the summer, it's made its way to just about every other Netflix app, including those for the iPhone, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360. But while that omission means that the app still has some room to grow, the new Netflix is still a major update that should make using it a much nicer experience all around.

Microsoft Remote Desktop apps for Android and iOS allow mobile access to stationary PCs

In order to keep that office-bound PC accessible on the road, Microsoft released Remote Desktop apps for both iOS and Android alongside the arrival of Windows 8.1. Now, users can navigate a Windows machine via a smartphone or tablet with the help of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). The software doesn't detect PCs automatically, so you'll need to have that IP address handy and remember to toggle on the requisite options from the base station's Control Panel. Once inside the app, you can expect multitouch navigation, content streaming and a management tool for an entire collection of remotely connected devices. Both the iOS (iOS 6 and 7) and Android (2.2 or later) versions of Microsoft Remote Desktop are free and they await in source links that follow.

[New App] Popular Windows Anti-Malware Suite Malwarebytes Now Available On Android

According to Google, less than one hundredth of a percent of apps out there are both malicious and capable of evading the built-in defenses in both Android and the Google Play Store. But if you really feel like you need a defense from that one-in-100,000 app, a trusted name in software protection has just entered the fray. Malwarebytes, makers of the popular eponymous Windows software, is now offering its services on Android.

  

The anti-malware app works on the familiar and relatively ancient principle of a scanner paired to an updated database of naughty apps. According to the company's press release, the app actively scans for "over 200 malware families" in real-time in both apps and general files. In addition to the basic scans, Malwarebytes will give you a report of which apps have access to your personal information, and which ones are actively taking advantage of the capabilities that are outlined in Play Store permissions. If that's not enough, it also includes a Security Audit feature, which tells you about potentially unsafe features... like GPS or unsecured WiFi. Which, honestly, you can probably figure out on your own.

The icing on the cake is an application manager that displays system resource usage on a per-app basis and lets you shut them down. You know, just like the Apps section of the Android Settings menu. So yes, power users will find very little that's actually useful in Malwarebytes, but perhaps you can suggest it if you know someone who's heard about Android's "malware problem" and needs a little extra peace of mind. It's a free download for Android 2.3 or later, so at least you're not out of pocket for the experience, which is more than I can say for some other security apps.

Galaxy S4's Android 4.3 update leaks early, available to download

The final release is expected to be made available in the next couple of weeks.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 owners can download a near-final build of the company's Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) distribution.
The folks over at Samsung-tracking site Sammobile on Sunday released an Android 4.3 build that's designed to run on the Galaxy S4. The near-final build can be downloaded from the Sammobile site. However, it's not clear whether (a) it's a safe download and (b) if it will cause any trouble for those who download it.

Rumors on when the Galaxy S4 will get Android 4.3 have been swirling for the past several weeks. According to Sammobile sources, who claim to have knowledge of Samsung's plans, it should be rolled out to the device's owners in the next couple of weeks.
CNET has contacted Samsung for comment on the leaked software. We will update this story when we have more information.

Google Play Store to optimize layout of Android apps for tablets

Google has announced layout changes coming to the Google Play Store on November 21 to optimize the Store for tablet users

In an official blog post on the Android Developers Blog, Google Play is bringing tablet optimization to the Google Play Store on Nov 21 making it easier for tablet users to find Android apps. With the release of tablets such as the Nexus 7, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, and more the Dev Blog states more than 70 million Android tablets have been activated in total. Earlier this year, Google Play introduced the "designed for tablets" section to the Google Play Store for apps optimized for 7-inch and 10-inch tablets. Now the Play Store will experience a series of changes in order to ease tablet users into finding the optimized apps for their tablets. The top lists will now, by default, show the apps and games designed specifically for tablets (Top Paid, Top Free, Top Grossing, Top New Paid, Top New Free, and Trending). The blog states, "Tablets users will still be able to switch the view so they can see all apps or games if they choose." Additionally, the apps that are not optimized for tablets will be titled "designed for phones". The updates are a big to encourage Android developers to take "advantage of the tremendous Android tablet opportunity." It was reported earlier this year that the Google Play Store had surpassed Apple's App Store in app downloads.

Twitter launches Android tablet app, initially just for Galaxy Note 10.1 2014

After making a blink and miss appearance at a recent Samsung event, Twitter's tablet-optimised Android app has been officially released. However, the app is exclusive to Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1-2014 edition for now. Twitter has informed that it will be extended to other Android tablets by the end of the year.
 
While Twitter's iOS app, which is a universal one, is optimised for the iPad, the app's Android version till date offers the same interface on both tablets and phones.
 
According to a blog post by Twitter, the tablet-optimised app's landscape view offers Tweets, conversations, Trends, and accounts to follow among other features. 
 
The tweets can be expanded to see photos, videos and article previews on the right side of the screen by tapping. On further tapping, users can see photos, play videos or read links from the web in fullscreen mode.
 
The new Twitter tablet-optimised app for Android supports the Samsung tab's Multi-screen view, letting users run Twitter and another app at the same time. 
 
The Twitter Android app for the Galaxy Note 10.1-2014 also comes with a widget that displays tweets, photos, and videos in addition to country-specific breaking news, music, sports and photos. The app even offers the ability to favourite or retweet right from the widget. This feature also appears to be limited to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1-2014 edition.
 
Another Galaxy Note 10.1-2014 feature is the ability to doodle with the S Pen stylus that comes with the tablet.
 
The app ecosystem on Android tablets has lagged behind iOS, with most Android apps built primarily for smartphones. It's strange that a mainstream service like Twitter chose to go exclusive (at least for some time) with just one Android tablet model, thereby fragmenting its Android tablet apps. It's not the first time that this has happened, as apps like Flipboard also arrived first on Samsung's Android devices.

Google Maps updated with directions for multiple destinations, events and more

In an effort to tailor its Maps offering to the requirements of individuals, Google has announced new features and tools based on feedback from its users, namely: directions for multiple destinations; displaying relevant itinerary data within maps itself, and, displaying upcoming events data for venues. 

Available for driving, walking, and biking, 'directions for multiple destinations' is a feature (pictured above) that will let users plot the best route for them on a map when visiting more than one destinations on a single trip. Users have to choose a starting point, then begin plotting by adding destinations with the '+' button, using either the search box, or directly clicking the locations directly on the map. 

To plot the best route, users can re-order their destinations by simply dragging and dropping them in the list. The directions for multiple destinations feature also ties in with the new Views carousel, which will let users preview their destinations using Photo Tours, Street View, and other available imagery, within the same window. 

For signed-in users, Google has tried integrating a Google Now-style digital assistant feature (pictured below), which will let such users see their flight, hotel and restaurant reservations whenever they open the relevant map. According to Google, "having all your stuff in one place makes it easier to manage your appointment details and plan your commute."

Google emphasised that these itinerary details are only visible to the individual user, and only when signed in on the desktop. The thrown-up data can be pulled by users when using the Google Maps apps, by accessing recent search history - synching from the desktop. For now, the feature is only available for US users, and only in English. 

Finally, the 'Upcoming Events' feature (pictured below) is a card-based display of a venue's schedule. If you are unsure about the venues in the area, you can select them by category, such as 'music venues,' to be able explore what events will soon be held near you.

Google's promised a lot more features for Maps, which will be coming soon, and are products of their busy summer of development. You can see more details about the new features via the official Google 'Lat Long' Maps blog.

Facebook introduces alpha testing program for Android

In an official blog post, Facebook has introduced the Facebook for Android alpha testing program following feedback received by users of the Android beta testing program launched back in June.

Christian Legnitto, mobile release engineering leader, states "In addition to quality reports, we get over 1,000 direct pieces of feedback from beta testers per day, including feature requests, bug reports, and posts in our feedback group."

With over 260,000 testers reportedly joining the option Facebook group for feedback exchange this has lead to the introduction of Facebook for Android alpha testing program.

Learn how to become an alpha tester at the bottom of this article.

Legnitto writes, "We started out with beta as we knew it would be a good balance between testing and usability, but we'd love to get feedback as early as testers want to give it."

The Facebook for Android alpha testing program will be at an even earlier stage in it development.

Users can join the alpha program by joining the Facebook for Android Alpha Testers Google group, allow alpha downloads by clicking "Become a Tester" in the Play Store, download Facebook from the Play Store to update your app, turn on automatic updates (alpha will be updated multiple times per week), and finally report problems and give feedback by using the "Report a Problem" menu item.

Text and voice messaging service Voxer introduces a Web-based client for business users

Voxer, a popular messaging and walkie-talkie service, has added a Web-based app for business users to complement its existing iOS and Android apps.

The Web app, which is basically a substitute for a desktop client, provides access to multiple chats on one screen — supporting push-to-talk voice, text and multimedia messages — and lets users to listen in on real-time chat conversations, with support for wired headsets. The Voxer business service is priced at $4.95 per user/per month for businesses, although that price will increase to $9.95 per user/per month from January 2014.

I’ve said before that adding a desktop client is smart for messaging, and that’s particularly true when your core audience is business users since it helps keep teams connected conveniently during the working day, when desktops are often the primary device. Voxer highlights the example of mini-cab and taxi firms, for example.

Voxer also offers a free version of its service for consumers — which includes a Windows Phone application that is not supported by the business plan.

The Latest TeamViewer For Android Update Adds Clipboard Synchronization, Sound Options, And More

I've tried more that a few remote access apps on both Android and Windows, and TeamViewer is right up there with the best of them (especially if you work with people who can't get a handle on VLC). Today's Android app update adds some much-needed features to the mobile access app, most notably the ability to silence sound from the remote machine without turning the sound off on your Android device. Huzzah!

  

The other major addition is clipboard synchronization. If you've ever used the Chrome To Phone app, you know how this works: selecting, highlighting, and copying text from your computer will allow you to paste it into any text field on your Android device, and vice versa. This is incredibly useful for remote access, especially if you're providing support and have to put in fiddly text like file addresses. TeamViewer users can now choose to lock the desktop (or not) at the end of every session, and the app will try to restore lost sessions more reliably simply by re-opening.

Last and probably least, the change log includes the usual "minor fixes and improvements." TeamViewer is free for private use on Android devices running 2.1 or higher, and works with clients on Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Android 4.4 KitKat launch date outed by Nestle Facebook update

Just over a fortnight ago we reported on the fun and friendly no-cash-changing-hands deal between Google and Nestle which would mean that the upcoming major update to the Android mobile OS would be Christened Android 4.4 KitKat. Previously it was to be called ‘Key Lime Pie’ but “very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie,” a senior Google exec explained. Also all Google coders are fuelled by KitKats.

The release schedule and other details about what to expect from Android KitKat were kept secret by Google so the KitKat story wasn’t much more than PR fluff. Readers wanted to know; when is it released? and what’s new? Now thanks to Nestle Germany’s Facebook account we have a much better answer to the first of of those questions.

KitKat confirmed to an interested Facebooker, by the name of Tim, that “Android 4.4 KIT KAT ist ab Oktober verfügbar”.This ‘official’ statement by the Swiss multi-national corporation seems to confirm earlier rumours of a 14th October introduction date for the new Android OS.

What is new in Android KitKat? Google only says that “It's our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody.” However that statement is hard to interpret, it could have various meanings. Mobile orientated site Know Your Mobile (KYM) has a lot more specifics listed in a recent roundup of likely/rumoured features. Among nebulous statements like the new mobile OS will have a new colour scheme and “general UI enhancements” KYM suggests that KitKat will help reduce Android fragmentation thanks to lower system demands. Rumours are that even older devices, which have missed out on updates to Android 4.0, will be able to update to and run 4.4. This ties in nicely with Google’s statement about KitKat being “available for everybody”.

Other major changes coming in Android KitKat according to KYM include a tighter integration with Google Drive cloud storage, improved battery life thanks to coding optimisations and improved security from malware and crashes due to bugs. Also there will be the extra bonus of lots and lots of promotional Android KitKat hardware being given away with the popular Nestle chocolate and wafer snack.

Google Adds Probable Android 4.4 Screenshot To Keyboard Update, Shows New Status Bar With Gray Icons And KLP Debug Icon

Google is juggling a lot of things right now. It's really not realistic to expect no one in the company to ever make a mistake. Well, today's slip-up is to our advantage. The most recent update to the Korean keyboard IME in Google Play contains a new screenshot which appears to be from Android 4.4 KitKat.

The status bar has light gray icons and clock font, which has been suggested in a number of leaks. There was also a hint of gray icons in the recently leaked video. Over on the other side of the status bar is a debug icon – a piece of pie. The debug icon in Jelly Bean is a little Android jelly bean, so this screenshot was probably taken on a device that still had the decoy Key Lime Pie ID. We knew Google was keeping things under wraps with regard to the KitKat naming, and it looks like designers are still working on getting the Android 4.4 graphics updated.

These gray status bar icons could be just the tip of the iceberg. The rumors have been pointing to a more significant update to the UI of Android with 4.4, but we don't have anything concrete to confirm just yet. Also, according to a source, the latest Android test builds also no longer refer to the upcoming Nexus as 'Nexus 4' – it's now Nexus 5. Things are coming together nicely.

Android 4.3 Jelly Bean Release Date Coming: Samsung Galaxy S3 Photo Leak Reminds Us System Update Is On The Way

The elusive Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for older Samsung devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 is expected in October; however, the Galaxy S3 has recently been spotted in the wild running the new operating system ahead of the scheduled rollout.

Tech blog AndroidSaS got its hands on a blurry photo of a Samsung Galaxy S3 international model showing the Android 4.3 operating system on its "about device" page. This isn’t our first sighting of the Galaxy S3 sporting Android 4.3. Back in July, the guys at Temefy shared an image from its insider at Samsung R&D India of the Galaxy S3. Similarly, its "about phone" page showed the handset running Android 4.3, build JDQ47. We can’t quite make out the build number of this current Android 4.3 leak on a Galaxy S3; however, it is notably different from the last.

There is no way to confirm the validity of the photo; however, tech website SamMobile believes the leak is a fake. This does not mean that the Android 4.3 is not on its way to the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Samsung announced after the unveiling of its new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 that the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 will receive Android 4.3 updates in October. Additionally, the Korean manufacturer announced during its Sept. 4 unveiling of the Galaxy Note 3 that older devices including the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 would receive software support for compatibility with the newly unveiled Galaxy Gear smart watch. Many believe that the software support could come from Android 4.3, which includes the Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity needed to connect to external accessories such as Galaxy Gear to compatible handsets. News about the Android 4.3 updates for older devices has been scarce since the Galaxy Note 3 unveiling.

At the least we have a reminder that Android 4.3 should be on the way, not only for Samsung but for other popular handsets as well. We also expect to see an Android 4.3 update on the HTC One soon, as the Taiwanese manufacturer has confirmed U.S. models will skip Android 4.2.2 in favor for the newer version by the end of September.