Old Android - Android news from an old bot.: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

ARC Welder lets you run Android apps straight from the Chrome web browser

Android apps are the best. The only thing cooler than having them run on your phone is if you could somehow bring them to your desktop. Well, you can. Using Chrome and Google’s App Runtime for Chrome (ARC for short), developers were given the ability to port their Android apps by having them run as a Chrome app. Initially there were only 4 apps available (Duolingo, Evernote, Sight Words, and Vine), and only for Chrome OS users, although a “hack” was later discovered.

But now, Google’s new Chrome app — ARC Welder — gives developers and ordinary folk the ability to test and just play around with Android apps straight from the Chrome web browser. Set up is easy, just download the ARC Welder Chrome app and once launched, select the zip file or APK of your application you want to run. From there, you can decide if you’d like the app to run in portrait or landscape mode, tablet or phone mode, and a few other parameters.

Once you launch the app, you’ll have a mostly functional Android app running on your desktop with little fuss. Not every app plays nice with ARC, so your mileage may vary. We were able to test our own Phandroid app amongst a few others. If you guys have luck with anything else, feel free to drop a comment below. For more detailed instructions, check out the official “Getting Started with ARC” page here .

Download from Chrome Web Store: ARC Welder

from Phandroid http://ift.tt/1GJNmuR

Fire TV And Fire TV Stick Updates For Public Wi-Fi And Other New Features Are Rolling Out Now

Last week we reported that Amazon's Android-powered streaming set-top boxes were getting a substantial update with a handful of much-appreciated new features. According to this Amazon page, the updates for the Fire TV and the cheaper Fire TV Stick are whooshing across the Internet to owners right now. To check for a manual download, head to System, About, then select "check for System Update." Here's all the new stuff for the Fire TV:

New and Enhanced Features: 51.1.5.0_user_515020820

USB Storage - If you are running out of space on your Amazon Fire TV, attach a USB flash drive for more space to install games and apps.

Fire TV And Fire TV Stick Updates For Public Wi-Fi And Other New Features Are Rolling Out Now was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

from Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets http://ift.tt/1agrHhH

T-Mobile’s Lollipop update for the LG G3 now available, but not rolling out over-the-air

After the Lollipop update for the LG G3 entered into T-Mobile’s “testing phase” early last week, we knew it was only a matter of time before it officially began hitting devices. Sure enough, Android 5.0.1 is now finally ready for the T-Mobile LG G3, but not in the way many of you are used to.

The update isn’t pushing out over-the-air, so you can’t update from just your phone alone. Instead, you’ll need to update the T-Mobile LG G3 via LG’s Mobile Support Tool. This means you’ll have to download LG’s updating software to your desktop computer and like an animal, connect your device via USB in order to apply the update.

We’re not sure how long the update will only be available in this way, but it’s kinda neat that a manufacturer is giving users the option to update early with this method rather than waiting around for a carrier to push out new software to their device. Again, it’s entirely possible the update — which at the time of writing, still hasn’t been green lit by T-Mobile — will be rolling out to G3s in the coming hours/days/weeks. So, if this process is too much for you, just sit tight. Lollipop will be here soon enough.

[T-Mobile Support]

from Phandroid http://ift.tt/1EzEUyS

Twitch For Android Updated With Windowed Video Player And Audio-Only Streaming Option

Playing video games is for losers, apparently - these days all the cool kids watch other people play video games. Twitch, the platform of choice for your non-video game-playing needs, has updated its Android client with a few handy features in version 3.2. Both of them come straight out of YouTube's bag of tricks, but that's OK - every video player should let you do this stuff.

The first thing you'll notice is that Twitch now has a pop-out mini-player that lets you browse for a new stream while watching your current one.

Twitch For Android Updated With Windowed Video Player And Audio-Only Streaming Option was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

from Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets http://ift.tt/19zJBet

Roboto by Fenix Fire Entertainment is now FREE!

Roboto

by Fenix Fire Entertainment

Price Drop: $2.99 --> FREE

HTC One M9 drop test and and full water submersion makes us cringe [VIDEOS]

We still have a few more days before you can officially mosey into a store and leave with a shiny new HTC One M9 in your pocket. After we saw the Samsung Galaxy S6’s durability put to the test, it’s now time for the the HTC One M9 to suffer the same fate.

Our latest double feature is brought to you by Phil Esposito and the twisted minds over at TechSmartt who wasted no time in taking up HTC on their new Uh Oh protection policy. We know most devices these days feature some level of water resistance, normally just enough to survive a few minutes out in the rain or a quick splash into a puddle.

HTC already told us, like last year’s One M8, the One M9 is rated for IPX3. This means it’s splash proof, but isn’t meant to be fully immersed in water. But what happens if (heaven forbid) your brand new HTC One M9 takes a dive into your toilet? Well, according to the video below, it might be salvageable even if swimming around for 20+ minutes (the Galaxy S6 hit a similar time before kicking the bucket). Check out the video down below to see for yourself.

Now, we know the HTC One M9 can survive a quick dip in water — but what about when it slips out of your hand and comes into contact with cold, hard concrete. Once again, we have another video showing you this worse case scenario, illustrating exactly what happens when you drop the HTC One M9 from a series of different heights. The result? A few dings, dents, chips, and eventually… a broken display. No surprise there.

But all in all, the HTC One M9 held up rather well. Because the glass is kind of floating towards the middle of the device (thank goodness for the boom sound speakers, right?), a big drop onto its corner wont actually crack the display. It will, however, leave a nasty dent in the body.

While situations like this are enough to make any smartphone lover cringe, there’s a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that no matter what happens to your HTC One M9 — whether it’s dropped, doused, or set on fire — HTC’s Uh Oh protection has you covered.

from Phandroid http://ift.tt/1IjLG9W

Opera Browser Beta Updated With 64-Bit Support, Chromium 42 Codebase, Improved Text Wrap, And More

It's easy to forget that Opera is still out there with all the talk of Chrome and Firefox, but it's still a capable browser. Even more so after it switched to a Chromium base a while back. The beta version of Opera is getting an update today, and it's based on a new version of Chromium with a few added features.

Here's the changelog for the new Opera beta.

Tab synchronization: new view for synced tabs, new layout in Tab manager

Improved Text wrap

64-bit support

New progress bar

Opera Turbo replaces Off-road mode

Upgrade to Chromium 42

Various stability and usability improvements

The 64-bit support isn't going to make a ton of difference right now as there are almost no Android devices with 64-bit cores.

Opera Browser Beta Updated With 64-Bit Support, Chromium 42 Codebase, Improved Text Wrap, And More was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

from Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets http://ift.tt/1CtUqJg

Facebook Introduces 'Scrapbooks,' A New Way For Parents To Tag And Organize Pictures Of Their Kids

One thing that Facebook has not been well-equipped to deal with is children. No, I don't mean teenagers. Most users are familiar with the barrage of photos that accompany each birth in the family of a Facebook friend, which often involves a mess of tagging of one or both parents in every baby photo. For parents themselves, they struggle sorting out photos of their sons and daughters unless they just dedicate albums to the children specifically.