Google Play Services 4.1 Rolling Out

Google has announced that it is rolling out the Google Play Services 4.1 update to all Android devices starting today, This update brings turn-based multiplayer support for Android game developers, battery life improvement for users who have location based reporting turned on, Google drive integration and improved Google+ sharing experience.
A major improvement to the Google Play Services is the turn-based multiplayer support using which developers can build asynchronous games to play with friends. Each time a users gets his turn, his turn data is uploaded via Google Play Services and shared with other users automatically.
The update also includes a developer preview of the new Google Drive API for Android using which app developers have the advantage to read and write to a user’s Google Drive account easily. The API also includes a file picker and a “Save” dialog.
You might have noticed that with location reporting turned on, your phone dies pretty sooner than it should. This has been fixed with this update that improves the battery life of devices with location reporting turned on.
A few changes have been made to Google mobile ads:

With Google Play services 4.1, the Google Mobile Ads SDK now fully supports DoubleClick for Publishers, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and Search Ads for Mobile Apps. You can also use a new publisher-provided location API to provide Google with the location when requesting ads. Location-based ads can improve your app monetization.

The new update also brings better Google+ sharing experience with which you contacts will be suggested from your phone or from your Gmail account when you share something. It also auto-completes contacts when you start typing a name in the Google+ sharing dialog box.
There is no information about when the rollout might reach your device but it has already begun as reported on Android developers blog.

WhatsApp Receives Major Update

The world’s best and most-used instant messaging service has received a major update today. WhatsApp has been updated to Version 2.11.157 and brings loads of improvements along which let you pay for your friend to renew their WhatsApp subscription, brings some amazing widgets which includes a camera shortcut to let you capture pictures directly from your home screen and send it to a contact via WhatsApp instantly.

WhatsApp is a paid service after you have used it for a year and costs not more than 99 cents per phone number. It is an in-app payment, hence to get your subscription renewed, you need to pay via Google Wallet, PayPal or your credit card. However, most WhatsApp users who are teens don’t have access to the aforementioned services. Hence, there has been increased conversation about getting a hacked WhatsApp APK which will bypass the subscription process. Though this isn’t possible, WhatsApp is concerned about people who can not pay to use their service and has introduced the Pay for Friend feature. Using this feature, you can request your friend to renew your WhatsApp service. This would probably cut down the hacked APK demands and users need not change their phone number to renew their WhatsApp service.

Another great improvement is the Camera shortcut which can be placed as a widget on your home screen. This shortcut lets you capture a picture after which you get an option to send the picture to a WhatsApp – pretty useful if you wish to share something you see instantly with your WhatsApp contacts. Also, the notifications from the app seen in the notification bar are more detailed.
The update is not live on the Play Store, we can expect it to be live in the next few hours. However, you can download the APK from whatsapp.com/android/ to get hands on the new features right now.
What are your thoughts about the new update? Do let us know in the comments below.

[LEAK] Nexus 5 Will be Available in 8 Different Colors Soon

oogle’s latest smartphone, the Nexus 5 is currently available only in two colors – black and white. But an anonymous tipster has sent in an video to Phonearena which shows a revamped Google Play Store page of the Nexus . The video shows that the device will be available in 8 different colors – Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.
The slideshow below shows the device in various colors. You can find the video at the end of this page.

 

 

Unfortunately there is no information on when Google will make these new colored Nexus devices official. The video below shows how the color of Nexus 5 changes when a users selects different color options:

Samsung Galaxy S5 Specs Leak, Includes 5.24″ Quad HD Screen

The best smartphone from the beast manufacturer of Android smartphones will be announced on February 24 at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 at Barcelona but before Samsung throws light on what the Samsung Galaxy S5 would feature, Russian insider and blogger Eldar Murtazin has tweeted out the specs of the device. Though a rumor, these leaked specs are something we have been expecting from the past few months and of course, they do come from a trusted source.

The specs reveal that the Samsung Galaxy S5 would include a 5.24 inch screen with a whopping 2560 x 1440-pixel, Quad HD resolution which would make the Samsung Galaxy S5 world’s first Quad HD resolution device in the western hemisphere of the world.Vivo Xplay 3S is the first one but is available only in China. This will also make Samsung Galaxy S5 the world’s first smartphone to beat the 500 ppi barrier as the leaked specs show that it would have a screen with 560 pixels per inch pixel density.

This high pixel density will be powered with a 3200mAh battery which is strong enough to provide a good battery life compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4 which had a 2600mAh battery.
The device will be available in two variants as far as the storage capacity is concerned. Interestingly, there is no 16 GB variant this time but instead Samsung has planned to release 64 GB and 32 GB variants. There is no information about the expansion of this memory via a SD card slot.
Considering the system chip, there are two variants – Snapdragon and Exynos 6 chip. No information about which Snapdragon chip will be included is available as of now.
Camera as usual is a 16 MP shooter at the back and 3.2 MP in front. Rumors also suggest that a thinner Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch might be launched with the Galaxy S5.
We’ll get to know more as and when we approach Feb 24 to see what Samsung would announce at Samsung Unpacked event.

Samsung Releases List Of Devices to Get Android 4.4.2 KitKat Update

It has been long since Samsung users have been wondering if their device will get an OTA update that will upgrade the OS on their phone to Android 4.4.2 KitKat or not. The wait is over as Samsung today has released a list of devices that will be upgraded to Android 4.4.2 KitKat officially. For users of these devices who were depending upon CyanogenMod 11 or Omni ROM, this should be a sigh of relief as they would finally have a bug-free Android 4.4.2 firmware which is TouchWiz skinned.
The list of devices that will be updated to Android 4.4.2 KitKat is as follows:

1. Galaxy Note® 3
2. Galaxy Note® II
3. Galaxy S® 4
4. Galaxy S® 4 mini™
5. Galaxy S® 4 Active™
6. Galaxy S® 4 zoom™
7. Galaxy S® III
8. Galaxy S® III mini™
9. Galaxy Mega®
10. Galaxy Light
11. Galaxy Note® 8.0
12. Galaxy Tab® 3
13. Galaxy Note® 10.1
14. Galaxy Note® 10.1 2014 Edition

The updates should start rolling out as early as today. Since we already had an inside view of the leaked Android 4.4.2 firmware for the Galaxy S4, you can expect an OTA pretty soon. OTAs are however region and carrier dependent!
Find the press release below:
February 18, 2014
DALLAS, TX – Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) announced today that a number of Samsung Galaxy® devices will receive the Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) software update, enriching the Galaxy experience.
The upgrade provides a number of innovative, easy-to-use features that enhance the user experience, including a more intuitive user interface, enhanced messaging capabilities and updated applications:
Location Menu: An integrated location menu enables users to easily activate GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, while simultaneously checking the battery usage of apps running location service capabilities.Enhanced Messaging: Enables users to choose between Messages or Hangouts as their preferred default messaging application, and select from a larger assortment of updated Emoji icons.Upgraded Google Mobile Service™ (GMS) apps: Users can automatically back up photos and video and can open, view, rename and share Google Docs and files