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News on Google’s Android platform, including phone and tablet tidbits.

Google to launch streaming music service

Google is planning on rivalling Spotify and getting one over Apple with a new music streaming service. Rumoured to be launched at Google I/O, the new service will feature a music catalogue comprising of Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, reports The Verge. Along with Warner, this means Google have signed up with the top three music labels in the world. No details on pricing is known, but this service is now adding increasing pressure on competitors as Google offers a complete Read more [...]

Sony minifys the Xperia Z as the ZR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDuYUlHc1r4&feature=youtube_gdata_player While I am meandering around the place trying to test the Sony Xperia Z, one of the bugbears I have already come to appreciate about the Z is being dealt with by Sony Head Office: the screen size. The Xperia ZR (Zed Reduced?) is substantially the same phone although it comes with a 720p 4.6 inch screen opposed to the 5 inch 1080p monstrosity of the Z.  For many, the screen reduction will be important as 5 inches is just a Read more [...]

“Epic” Flipboard 2.0 hits Android

The perennial iOS app du jour of last year was Flipboard. It’s appearance first on the Samsung Galaxy S III marked the end of iPhone elitism and a signal that Android had no truck with failed comparisons with its fruity rival. Described by Flipboard’s CEO as “the most epic release we’ve ever done” in March, Flipboard 2.0 has now made the lonely journey from the iPhone to Android. The app largely stays the same with the addition of more socially derived feeds such as photographic food repository Read more [...]

Barnes & Noble Nook HD+

Nook HD gets Google Play & UK price cut

Barnes & Noble have been trying to crack the UK market with little success when up against the Amazon Kindle Fire. Despite getting good coverage in retailers such as Currys and John Lewis, these are all establishments that also carry the Kindle. The HD and HD+ tablets were very much of the Kindle Fire mould, that is they ran a custom version of Android and unlike the Kobo Arc were not Google Play certified. That has changed today with the announcement that the Nook fondleslabs will be getting Read more [...]

No more in-app updates for Facebook via Google Play

Facebook's recent trend of sending out updates via its app have been curbed thanks to a change in the Google Play Developer Program Policy. Described as Dangerous Products (i.e. nasties such as viruses, and spyware), apps must conform to the following guideline: An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play's update mechanism.Put simply, if downloaded form Google, all future updates must also come form Read more [...]

Samsung Galaxy S4 stock woes could play to HTC’s favour

Reviews of Samsung’s latest iPhone slayer are pouring in from across the Atlantic and for the most part the consensus waives between fantastic to very good. That is unless you are The Verge and the sight of plastic deeply offends. (The Guardian has an overview of the latest reviews here.) What is more concerning appears to be the supply issues.  Considering Samsung have bet the farm on a US invasion, stock levels are dwindling very low within days of launch. The UK is merely hours away from Read more [...]