android

Amping up its music game, Google Music is expanding its reach to seven more countries. The Web giant announced today that consumers in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, and Portugal now have access to the free music storage service.

With this service, users can store up to 20,000 pre-purchased songs on Google Play and stream them via an Android smartphone or tablet or the Web. Several of the countries that now have access to Google Music will also get the "Artist Hub," which is a platform for independent and local artists to sell music directly … Read more

Facebook Home for Android is an interesting, and odd, experiment from the big dog in social networking. On the one hand, the home-screen replacement software introduces some daring, even likable, ideas about how to interact with your friends on your phone -- and soon, on your tablet. On the other hand, Home is very much first-generation software that could use more time in the oven to become truly useful for Facebook fanatics.

The software, which supplants your home screen interface with images and status updates from your friends' Facebook news feed, is niche at best. At worst, it's a … Read more

Facebook finds the heart of your smartphone with Facebook Home, a family of applications that bring social-networking mainstays such as the News Feed and Facebook Messenger to your mobile device in radically altered designs.

The software package, shown off at a press event last week, is moving to select Android devices April 12. The HTC First, the first handset optimized for Facebook Home, hits the market on the same day, exclusively with AT&T.

After spending a few days with a review unit of the HTC First, I believe Facebook has created a visually arresting mobile home like no … Read more

Why wear a smartwatch? You might have said the same thing about carrying a smartphone before those got smart enough to be truly useful. Smartwatches are a sort of mini tech trend of the moment, but here's the brutal truth: we wouldn't recommend that our friends buy any of these, unless they're early-adopter watch fetishists. The smartwatches of today have a muddy mix of good, bad, and flat-out ugly features. At best, they're quirky and stylish. At worst, they're hobbled with short battery life or don't work at all.

None of the smartwatches we'… Read more

Today Google announced a redesigned Play store app for Android users running Android 2.2 and above.

The redesign will begin showing up for users over the coming weeks, but if you're the type who doesn't like to wait, you can download and install the update yourself.

We knew it would only be a matter of time before the update was posted for all to enjoy, and thanks to Droid Life, you're a few seconds away from looking at the new Play store on your Android device.

Head on over to this post and follow one of … Read more

When it comes to browsing the Web, playing games, and watching movies, nothing beats a big tablet -- by which I mean one with a 10-inch screen.

Typically that means paying at least $399, but not today. For a limited time, and while supplies last, Digideal (via Rakuten, formerly Buy.com) has the Kocaso M1062 10.1-inch Android tablet for $129.99 shipped.

Quick caveat: I first spotted this deal yesterday afternoon, so there's a possibility it was a one-day-only offer that's due to expire at any moment. If it does, my apologies. For the record, it sells … Read more

Most car stereos that I've ever fiddled with have offered some sort of equalizer setting that lets the driver customize the sound to their liking, but fitting more than the basic treble, bass, and --occassionally-- midrange controls onto the cramped display of a single DIN receiver is a tricky endeavor. Alpine wants to make it easier for users of its new CDE-147BT receiver to access advanced graphic EQ controls by offloading the audio tuning interface to an Alpine TuneIt app for Android and iOS devices.

The app lets users create a profile for their vehicle and any other Alpine … Read more

Tumblr launched its redesigned Android mobile app today, making some major upgrades over its last version.

"Tumblr for Android just got a total face-lift," the company wrote in a blog post today. "We've completely redesigned the interface, added fancy post animations, made images pop, and a whole lot more."

The app, which is available on Google Play, has an entirely new "post anything" screen that lets users share photos, videos, quotes, chats, links, and text with one tap. The intuitive interface also gives users the option of advanced controls like saving drafts, queuing … Read more

Google is facing a fresh round of antitrust scrutiny from the European Union, this time for Android.

The revelation emerges as the Web giant tries to resolve EU charges related to how it displays search results, which critics say favor the company's own services over those of its competitors.

European officials have been examining Google's mobile operating system independently of its search results probe, EU competition chief Joaquin Almunia told The New York Times today, declining to comment further on the new investigation.

The new complaint was filed by Fairsearch Europe, a group of companies that includes Microsoft, … Read more