android apps

If your mobile device is running Android 4.1 or higher, consider yourself lucky, as you today get access to the latest version of the Google Search app.

With the updated version, you can now play music -- either songs saved on your device or from Google Play -- by issuing a voice command. In addition, if you have a hard time remembering what voice commands are supported, the app now offers voice action tips to remind you.

Lastly, the Search app also comes with new Google Now Cards that show Google Offers and information about TV shows. Conveniently, Google … Read more

Families outfitted with a fleet of smartphones have a lot of options for checking in that don't require exercising those texting thumbs or distracting a driver with a call just to find out exactly when he or she is coming home for dinner.

I've gathered a handful of Android applications designed to help smartphone users keep an eye on each others' whereabouts. Indeed, the first thing that comes to mind in this NSA age is whether or not this stuff is private. Rest assured, dear reader, I've got your interests at heart.

These are apps are opt-in … Read more

Photo-sharing site Imgur has officially taken its Android application out of beta.

The company updated the app on Sunday, saying that it's now "officially" available to the Android community. The application has been available in the Google Play store for quite some time, but was offered in beta status. The full-featured version 1.0 is the final build.

The app is Imgur's first major step into mobile. The company has previously succeeded by appealing to a relatively large number of users sharing photos online. Like its Web-based counterpart, the free Android app allows users to browse … Read more

After tinkering and perfecting, Rockmelt has finally released its app for Android.

The company announced Wednesday that to get this app ready for the public, it had to make sure it was "the right experience for Android users and not merely a port of an iOS app."

So, what are the differences between the social browser's Android and iOS app? A lot.

First of all, the Android app is tooled for bigger screens, which means navigation is at the bottom of the screen in portrait mode and on the right in landscape mode. Also, as users scroll … Read more

The just-released version 3.0 of Aviary for Android sports a redesigned interface and comes with some important new features for beautifying your photos.

The most notable of the app's additions is the improved Enhance tool. Previously a single-tap tool for smart, automatic adjustments, Enhance now comes with three different settings: Hi-Def, Illuminate, and Color Fix. Each setting has a way of manipulating settings like contrast, sharpness, and brightness, and they all should help bring the best colors out of your photos.

Another addition that should be popular with users is the Woodland Effects Pack. This set of filters … Read more

The big news today for Google+ is that the service is getting some notable improvements to its notifications system, the biggest of which is syncing across all devices. With this improvement, when you read or dismiss a notification on one device, the same action will be reflected across all of your devices, so you won't be bothered with repeat clicks and swipes.

Other updates include a new bell icon for notifications and an updated notifications tray, which separates new items from previously read items. According to Google's Vic Gundotra, the notifications improvements will be rolling out gradually starting … Read more

My awesome brother-in-law Steve introduced me to Ticket to Ride a couple years ago, and I've been hooked ever since. As board games go, it offers a near-perfect blend of strategy and luck-of-the-draw, on par with old classics like Risk and newer ones like Carcassonne.

Then came the iOS version, which CNET ranked among the 30 best iPad games -- and rightly so. It affords a decent single-player experience (something the board version can't) and moves the game along at a much speedier clip (meaning you can play alone or with others without investing quite so much time).… Read more

Of all the great features that come with Android, I think perhaps my favorite is endless customization. If you don't want to root the device to go deep into modifying, there's still so much you can do with just apps. For example, you can give yourself a fancy home screen.

I've gathered a small handful of my favorite home screen apps here, but nothing that requires root access. Rather, these are the sorts of apps you can install and play around with on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Come next weekend, you just might have a completely different-looking … Read more