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Google Play Music and Movies purchasing reaches Google TV, patches a media strategy hole
It's been one of the more conspicuous omissions in the media hub space: despite Google Play being the cornerstone of Google's content strategy, you couldn't truly use the company's music or movie services through Google TV without depending on content you'd already paid for elsewhere. As of a new upgrade, the ecosystem has come full circle. Viewers with Google TV boxes can at last buy or rent directly from Google Play Movies and Google Play Music, and the content will be indexed in the TV & Movies section alongside third-party video services and traditional TV. The upgrade also helps Google's TV front end play catch-up with its mobile counterpart by adding automatic app updates and subscriptions. While device owners may have to wait a few weeks as the upgrade rolls out, the addition signals a big step forward for a platform that has normally leaned heavily on others for help.
TomTom Navigator hits (some) Android devices, we go hands-on
TomTom just released its Android navigation app on Google Play to the robot-toting hordes, some three years after its iOS version debuted. Unfortunately, quite a number of newer smartphones, like the Galaxy S III, aren't yet compatible, due to a current resolution limitation of 800 or 854 x 480 (WVGA or FWVGA). That didn't deter us from wanting to take it for a spin anyway, so we took our old Galaxy S out of mothballs -- and there's no place better to sample a GPS maker's wares than rural France, which has endless tiny tracks criss-crossing the countryside. To see how we made out, head past the break for the rest of the story.
TomTom finally hits Android starting at $50, not ready for all devices (video)
As TomTom promised, Android users can now be guided offline by the nav company -- unless you happen to own a Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Nexus or a handful of other recent, popular smartphones or tabs. It said most models would be compatible by year's end, but if you do have one that works already, you'll get all the features that iOS users have enjoyed for quite a while: radar camera warnings (depending on your country), eco routes, contact navigation, free map updates and traffic guidance. The app is now available on Google Play starting at $50 for the US and Canada maps, an "introductory offer" that's 10 bucks cheaper than the same iOS version, so you might want to check the source before that price goes up -- if you've got the right device, of course. We're hoping to take a spin with the app soon, but meanwhile, you can check out a teaser video and the PR, after the break.
PSA: $25 Google Play credit for Nexus 7 ends this weekend
Those who have been keeping a close eye on Google's 7-inch, Jelly Bean-loaded Nexus 7 would know that the company kindly includes 25 bucks worth of Play credit with any purchase of said tablet. Unfortunately, as the famed cliché would tell us, all good things must come to an end -- and, well, such is the case with this neat promotion, which will expire on Sunday, September 30th. Here's the good news, however: there's still a relatively good amount of time for folks interested to get it on the Google Play deal, so now would be the perfect moment to snag what some are calling the best $200 tablet -- and who knows, this might even lead to a post-order Gangnam Style celebration of your own.
Google's Niantic Labs launches Field Trip app for Android, helps the working world play hooky
While Apple struggles to figure out how to help its users find their way, the mapping experts at Google have just launched a way to get folks to diverge a bit from their given path. Field Trip, released for Android by Google-owned Niantic Labs, runs in the background on your Android handset, eagerly waiting for you to get near a point of interest. Once that happens, it leaps into action, showing you a card for one of thousands of cool locations -- historic spots, museums, restaurants and the like. Google's partnered with a bunch of taste makers for the project, including Flavorpill, Cool Hunting and its own Zagat, to get things done. You can vote choices up and down, change the frequency of pop ups and post your findings to Twitter, Facebook and that one Plus social network. There's also a driving mode serves as an auditory tour guide when you're behind the wheel. The app's available now as a free download in Play. The iOS version, on the other hand, is coming soon. Psst... yes, it appears to be US-only for now. Bah, humbug.
Nexus 7 comes to South Korea, causes price envy across the water
If Google-lovin' Koreans were a little jealous after seeing Eric Schmidt turn up in Japan with a Nexus 7-shaped gift under his arm, they needn't be. It looks like the Executive Chairman brought another one along with him on his Asian travels. It wasn't just the hardware that came along for the ride either, with The Next Web reporting that the firm also made movies available in the country's edition of Google Play. The Korean asking price will be a reported KRW 299,000 (about $267) for the 16GB edition, a smidgen less than its neighbor's (¥19,800 / $255). We suspect, though, not quite enough to warrant a ferry ride. Update: As many of you have noted, the currency conversion actually favors the Japanese price. Updated to reflect that.
Google Play services arrives for Android 2.2 and above, the eager can download directly
Google recently announced to developers the availability of a new "Services" platform, to allow better integration of its core products in 3rd party apps. The update comes in the form of an APK that will automatically find its way to handsets with Android 2.2 and above. But, for the impatient amongst you, it's available for download directly from the Play store now. This first release centers around better integration for Google+ (for account sign-in / Plus buttons etc) and providing OAuth 2.0 functionality, but it's expected that deeper functionality with the Google universe will take root soon. Most handily, as Mountain View decided to deliver this in the form of an app / APK, there's no pesky waiting around for networks to get it to you. Read up on the benefits via the more coverage links, or head to the source to make sure you're on-board.
Hands-on with Wikipad, the $500 Android gaming tablet (video)
The Wikipad is an anomaly. It's a 10.1-inch, $500 Android tablet aimed squarely at gamers -- an expensive portal to a platform many mobile game developers have abandoned due to piracy. It's got an IPS display with 1,280 x 800 resolution, an NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (at launch). So ... it's not quite as sharp in the graphics department as some other tablets on the market, nor is it as pretty as its main handheld gaming competition, the PlayStation Vita. On top of that, it's from an engineering firm that you've never heard of -- Wikipad is also the name of the business behind the tablet, and this is the company's first product launch. Oh, and did we mention that the main selling point is an attachable game controller that frames half the tablet in a mess of plastic buttons, joysticks, and speakers? And no, the controller won't be sold separately, nor will it work with any other tablet. Defying all logic, however, the Wikipad feels like a surprisingly solid piece of equipment (regardless of the fact that the prototype model we used was hand-built). From the light but solid construction of the tablet's chassis, to its grippy molded rear -- which helps both for gripping the tablet without the controller attached and assists sound amplification when the device is laid down -- nothing about the device feels cheap. As a tablet, it's speedy and responsive. Apps load quickly and smoothly, and it's got extra loud speakers for gaming without headphones (or for David Guetta, as was demonstrated to us). The custom skin it was running felt a bit rough -- the apps get reorganized with a gaming focus and slapped onto a flippable cube, which caused some visual stuttering from pane to pane. Another feature of the custom OS is a special 3D game launcher, which includes sections for Nvidia's Tegra Zone, PlayStation Mobile games, GameStop-suggested titles, and Google Play. There are some less than exciting ad banners attached to this launcher, but they're easily ignorable. Though Gaikai is still working with the Wikipad post-Sony buyout, CEO James Bower told us the game streaming service won't be there at launch -- he's hoping it'll arrive by year's end, "but that's up to Sony."%Gallery-166636%
Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games
Google Play crossed a rather significant milestone this morning: something to the tune of 25 billion app downloads. While the accomplishment is weighty enough on its own -- especially given that the store also offers books, music and movies, which aren't included in this tally -- Google is celebrating in symbolic style with a number of apps and games for sale at just $0.25 over the next five days. Among the mix of discounted titles, you'll find publishers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Runtastic and Full Fat. Not to stop there, shoppers will also discover a curated collection of 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and 25 top-selling magazines. With today's announcement, it was revealed that 675,000 apps and games now live in Google Play -- a healthy increase when compared to 600,000 titles and 20 billion installs just three months ago. As you might expect, Apple still claims the largest selection with 700,000 titles in its App Store, although with such a thin separation between the two, we may see Google Play eclipse its rival in short order.
Nexus 7 arrives in Japan, better late than never
Well, it took a while, but Google has finally launched the Nexus 7 in Japan. The tablet made its state-side debut in July, but it took almost three months for it to cross the Pacific and land in the east Asian nation. Pricing is a little higher than what we've seen everywhere else, with the 16GB model selling for ¥19,800, or about $255. It makes a perfect companion for the recently updated Play Books app that also just made its debut in the Land of the Rising Sun. Update: Price updated to reflect current USD conversion.
Google Play Books app arrives in Japan, adds translation, place info, highlighting and more
Not content at stopping with its recent European tour, Google Play Books has made the trip to Japan and brought back a handful of new features. In addition to support for reading Japanese books in a vertical, right-to left layout, Mountain view now lets users tap on names of geographical spots within text and see them pinned to a Google Map alongside the option to find more information using Larry Page's favorite search engine or Wikipedia. A freshly added translation feature takes user-highlighted words and phrases and spits them out in the reader's language of choice. Particularly studious literature lovers can now mark up their digital books with notes and highlights that sync to the web and across their personal fleet of devices. A new sepia tone theme also joined the existing day and night views on their journey abroad. Hit the source links below for more details and the download.
Rhapsody Android app goes 3.0, adds offline playback
Rhapsody fans with Android handsets, listen up, because your subway rides just got a little more bearable. The latest version of the music streaming service rolled out on the Google Play store this week, bringing with it the promise of downloadable tracks and albums, for your offline listening pleasure. The update also allows you to pick precisely where you want those downloads to go, so you can stream Gaga to your hearts content without eating up your data. More details can be found in the source link below.
Fox kicks off its Digital HD initiative by joining Google Play and YouTube, offering movies early
Fox embraced a radical thought when it outlined its Digital HD initiative earlier this month: customers are more likely to buy digital movies if the content isn't artificially delayed and priced to match the releases on conventional discs. The studio is about to see if that gamble on common sense pays off. As of today, you'll find 600-plus Fox movies ready to buy or rent in HD across every major digital video store in the US, with many downloads cleared to arrive ahead of their physical counterparts at lower prices that reflect a disc-free reality. The media giant has also decided to play nicely with Google after a longstanding absence, putting its movies and TV shows on Google Play Movies and YouTube. Its tentpole movie release Prometheus is unsurprisingly being used as the prime incentive to try Digital HD; the title is available online three weeks before the Blu-ray launch at a more reasonable $15 price. The sci-fi thriller is even Fox's first movie destined for UltraViolet cloud lockers. Only Americans will have expanded access to movies and TV at first, but it shouldn't be too long before many countries can be creeped out by Michael Fassbender's android -- including on their Android devices.
Gartner: Free apps dominate market, iOS App Store accounts for 25 percent of all content
If you'd just put down Angry Birds Space for a moment, maybe we could tell you that mobile apps are kind of a big deal. How big of a deal? How's about 45.6 billion downloads just this year -- that's a serious amount of birds lost in space! All of those downloads weren't just Angry Birds venturing into the final frontier, of course. Gartner, Inc's latest mobile report doesn't actually break down how much of that enormous number pertains to Rovio's hit franchise, but it does note that "free apps will account for nearly 90 percent of total mobile app store downloads in 2012." That means of the nearly 46 billion apps downloaded this year, approximately 40.6 billion were free. Additionally, an entire quarter of the apps downloaded in 2012 were via Apple's iOS app store -- but that isn't what's driving app growth, necessarily. "The number of apps available is driven by an increasing number of stores in the market today," Gartner research director Brian Blau notes. "These stores will see their combined share of total downloads increase, but demand for apps overall will still be dominated by Apple, Google, and Microsoft." And the growth doesn't stop there. Blau predicts that 93 percent of all apps downloads will be of the free variety by 2016 -- also, we'll be downloading over 300 billion apps worldwide by the same year. Like we said, kind of a big deal.
Google Play foots the bill for 4,000 free Boingo hotspots through September
Google and Boingo keep expanding their partnership, making GoGo a little jealous in the process were sure. Starting this week you'll be able to hop online for free at over 4,000 Boingo hotspots across the country. Among the complimentary WiFi bastions are major airports such as JFK and O'Hare, as well as many subway platforms across New York City. All this is coming courtesy of Google Play, which is footing the bill for your free wireless adventure. The deal wraps up at the end of the month, but that still leaves you almost three weeks to take complete advantage of Big G and Boingo. PR is awaiting you after the break.
Grooveshark circles back again, swaps app for HTML5
It's hard to keep up with whether Grooveshark is in the Google Play store, or out again, but now it doesn't matter. The music streaming service has decided to ditch its yo-yoing app, and instead opt for a flashy new HTML5 website for all devices. It's gone live in the US with an international launch "in the coming months", although this London-based editor didn't have any trouble using it. If you've been missing your favorites list, then jump over to Grooveshark.com and get listening -- after all, you might see it disappear again soon if a fresh lawsuit from EMI has any impact.
Google patents buyer-specific price drops for follow-up sales, can tell if you're a cheapskate
Ever been tempted to rent a movie again, but thought the price was just a little too dear? Google may soon be willing to haggle a deal. One of its newly-granted patents could automatically lower the price of repurchase-friendly content, such as a Google Play Movies rental, depending on how likely you are to pull the trigger. Its algorithm weighs your personal tastes and repurchasing habits against those of your peers: if the code senses you'll be relatively stingy, you'll get a better discount. The analysis could even factor in the nature of the content itself. A thoughtful movie, ownership of the soundtrack or just a lot of related searches could lead to a repurchase at the usual price, while a simple action flick with no previous interest may bring the discount into effect. We don't know if Google will offer these extra-personal discounts to the public at any point in the future, but if you suddenly notice a lot of follow-up bargains in Google Play, you'll know how they came to be.
TV Catchup for Android arrives on Google Play
TVCatchup, the excellent little TV-watching service has brought its app over to Android. The service, which we've found to be much more reliable than the BBC's live streams on our flaky connection, lets you watch nearly 60 free-to-air channels available in the UK. The ad-supported app is available for free on Google Play right now -- as long as you've paid your license fee, folks.
NFL Game Rewind apps for iOS and Android tablets appear with coaches film and telestrator features
While inclusion of the "eye in the sky" All-22 game tape and condensed games the squeeze every play into a 30 minute football-fest are nice features for the NFL Game Rewind package, those looking to get their John Madden on can do so thanks to its apps for tablets. The telestrator feature is only mentioned in the notes for the iOS version so far, however the Android app shares in its ability stream the tape delayed games in HD, complete with stats and big play markers to jump straight to the key plays. While the apps themselves are free, you will need a paid subscription to the service at $34.99 to follow a single team, $39.99 for the entire league, and $69.99 for the Season Plus package that brings along the All-22 cam and telestrator features. Hit the source links for more info on the packages and exactly when the games are available for viewing, if you're more of a Monday Morning QB than real-time NFL Red Zone / Sunday Ticket aficionado, they may work for you.
Grooveshark app nowhere to be found, suddenly disappears from Google Play again
Oh poor, poor Grooveshark. Not long after surprisingly making its way back to the Android Market Google Play store, the streaming service's Android application appears to be long gone yet again. If you'll recall, the music app was pulled from Mountain View's shop a few months back; this due to many claims from labels which suggested Grooveshark was allowing users to download tunes at no cost. Still, mum's the word on why the app has been nixed out of Google Play this time around -- especially after the service announced it had worked closely with the Android maker to get the official app reinstalled. For what it's worth, however, word on the internet is the application can still be installed via the Grooveshark site, but we'll have to leave that dicey decision up to you.
