Click here to view the embedded video.

Fight off the endless wave of dog attacks in Battle Cats! This game, which seems to be growing in popularity at an insane rate, is fun to play and very colorful. It is sort of a tower defense meets Plants vs. Zombies game, as you must protect your kitty castle from oncoming enemies. 

There are different cats you can choose to help in the fight, then each cat can also be upgraded once you reach a certain level. Once you have enough of a power up, you can call on God Cat to get you out of any close calls, but only use that power when absolutely necessary. You only get so many miracles. The game is free through Google Play, so go grab it and get your Battle Kitteh on.

And please tell me, is that not thee coolest game trailer you have ever seen? So epic.

Play Link

Battle Cats, the Ultimate App for all out Kitteh Warfare is a post from: Droid Life

One of the cutest and best-selling mobile games, Cut the Rope Experiments, is free today. This can finally be your chance to help the adorable little Om Nom get his candy if you haven’t had the chance to yet. 

The game starts off easy, as you cut the ropes attached to a piece of candy so that it falls into Om Nom’s mouth, but the puzzles are deceptive as you get further into it. The game is easily worth the $0.99 on a normal day, but if you can’t spare the change to play this game, go hit the link below.

App Store Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cut the Rope Experiments is the Amazon Appstore’s Free App of the Day is a post from: Droid Life

The GO Launcher development team is at it again, bringing yet another application to Google Play. This time, it’s Next Browser, a browser that could compete with Google’s Chrome and the stock browser application found on most Android devices. The GO Launcher team are the ones responsible for the very popular GO Launcher, as well as GO Locker, a popular 3rd party option for lockscreen lovers, so you have to have some faith that they know what folks would want in a browser. 

Some of the features that make Next Browser stand out in a crowd are Speed Dial (a pretty bookmarks page that appears upon launching the app), Easy Search (the fancy Google Search bar), extensions for apps such as Evernote and Pocket, plus other custom GO Dev features like Next Voice and Next View.

While the browser does appear quite nice, the lack of a few features would probably turn some of you away. There is no full integration with your Google account, so saved passwords and things of that nature will not appear. Although, it does allow for the syncing of bookmarks. If you aren’t completely attached to your Google account, it could be worth the look. To check out Next Browser in action, watch the video below.

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Next Browser From GO Launcher Development Team, Features Custom Speed Dial and Extensions is a post from: Droid Life

 

Today, Google’s Chrome Beta for Android received a most impressive update through the Play store. Included is the addition of Google Translate, allowing users to instantly translate full webpages to their native tongue, as well as options for controlling and limiting bandwidth consumption through the browser’s settings. 

Those two might be the features that have Kellen and myself excited the most, but they have also added an awesome “+” symbol in the top left to bring up new tabs (where has this been the whole time?!), fullscreen support for Android tablets, in addition to “mobile friendly” error pages.

What’s New:

• Google Translate: When you come across a page written in a language that isn’t in the same language as your phone or tablet, look for the translation bar
• Fullscreen on tablets: Simply scroll the page to dismiss the toolbar
• Support for fullscreen API
• New graph showing your estimated bandwidth savings when you use the experimental data compression feature
• Mobile friendly error pages

By enabling the bandwidth saving feature, each page you visit is optimized by Chrome, allowing for faster page loads (since less data is going back and forth) and you will probably see a huge difference in data consumption if you fancy yourself a hardcore web surfer.

You can go grab the update through Google Play and try it out for yourself.

Play Link

Via: Chrome Blog

Chrome Beta for Android Updated, Brings Google Translate and Bandwidth Management Settings is a post from: Droid Life

In need of some new apps and games? There is a pretty impressive list of titles up for grabs on Google Play, including some major names like World of Goo, Fieldrunners 2, Fangz HD and even the new Alien vs. Predators game. Most are on sale for just $1, so you can’t really beat that. We have them listed below, so go grab them and have some fun. 

Today’s Sales:

• Fieldrunners 2 – $0.99
• AVP: Evolution – $0.99
• Touch Racing Nitro – $0.99
• 2Do: To Do List - $3.94
• AccuWeather Platinum – $0.99
• Fast Pro for Facebook – $1.14
• Fangz HD – $0.99
• FireJumpers – Wildfire RTS – $0.99
• mSecure Password Manager – $4.99
• World of Goo – $0.99

Go support the developers!

Thursday App Sales: Fieldrunners 2, AVP: Evolution, Touch Racing Nitro and More is a post from: Droid Life

Heard of Mailbox? It’s an iOS app that was such a massive success as an email replacement at launch, that Dropbox bought it within a couple of months of its existence. Today, the company launched an iPad version of its popular app, but that’s not what Android users care about. In a sitdown with Read Write, Mailbox’s founder Gentry Underwood said that a presence on Android is next on their list of things to do. He wouldn’t specify a time frame, only that it’s on their radar now that the iPad app is out. 

For those not familiar, Mailbox is an email replacement app that wants to make you more productive while also keeping your inbox down to a minimum (“Inbox zero”), so that you don’t feel so damn overwhelmed every time you open it. Mailbox helps you get there by incorporating swiping gestures that advance beyond what you use them for on Android currently.

For example, as you swipe away an email, you’ll get a different result depending on how long your swipe is and in which direction you take it. So if you want to archive a message, you can perform a quick swipe to the left and you’ll see a green color with a check mark. If you want to delete the message, drag your swipe longer to the right and it’ll turn red with an “X.” Should you swipe to the left, you can tell Mailbox to remind you to check the message at a later date, or even add it to a list should you continue the swipe like you did to delete.

Again, the point is to make you more productive and less stressed.

I’ll say that after spending a little bit of time with it on iOS, I can’t wait for it to come to Android. Can you imagine the power that developers would have with this app and its gestures with Android’s notification system? Your productivity could enter a new level should you not have to enter your inbox.

Keep this one on your lists, folks, it’ll be a good one.

Via:  Read Write

Mailbox Founder Suggests That an Android Version is Next in Their Plans is a post from: Droid Life

It is quite possible that this series has existed for far too long now, but there’s nothing wrong with a good action flick that centers around sexy cars. Fast & Furious 6: The Game hit Google Play very recently, allowing players to drive recklessly and run others off the road without going to jail. 

In the game, you get right into the furious action as you attempt to take down the bad mercenary drivers. Set in London, you race and drift through different jobs to earn cash and “respect.” There are global tournaments to enter as well, so the game always has a little something different to offer.

It’s free, but I’m supposing there are some IAPs for vehicle upgrades and things of that nature. Anyone else excited for the new movie, besides me?

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fast & Furious 6: The Game Hits Google Play, Go Punch the NOS is a post from: Droid Life

Back in April, Google updated Chrome beta for Android to include a full-screen browsing mode along with simpler searches that stay in the search box after you press enter. Today, they are releasing that same update to the stable build of Chrome for Android. Once updated, you’ll see the toolbar disappear as you scroll down pages, giving you a full-screen experience. With a quick swipe back towards the top, it will return. You’ll also get searches that stay in the omnibox (search box), making follow-up searches easier. 

Here is the full changelog:

• Fullscreen on phones – Scroll down the page and the toolbar will disappear.
• Simpler searching – Searching from the omnibox will keep your search query visible in the omnibox, making it easier to edit, and show more on your search result page.
• Client-side certificate support – You can now access sites that require you to use a certificate and Chrome will allow you to select an installed certificate
• Tab history on tablets – Long press the browser back button to view your tab history
• And a ton of stability and performance fixes

I can’t get the update to push through either the mobile or web Play stores, but it appears to be live.

Via:  Chrome Releases

Chrome Stable for Android Updates With Full-screen Mode and Simpler Searches is a post from: Droid Life

Google Drive for Android is receiving a major update today that includes a new UI, document scanner, and editing improvements. In terms of the UI, Google is introduce a card-style layout, similar to what we are seeing across a number of their apps like Google Play and Google Keep. In this new UI, you get to see larger previews of documents to help you discover information quicker.  

Along with the new UI, Google is introducing a document scanner, which allows you take photos of of documents, business cards, etc. and save them for later. Google will turn them into PDF files, but remember that Drive recognizes text in documents so you can search for items embedded later on.

They improved the editing experience as well. After the update, you’ll be able to adjust font types and sizes for a spreadsheet and tweak cell colors and alignment from within the app.

You can also choose to download copies of documents to your device from the action menu inside settings.

Here is the rest of the changelog:

• New grid view makes it easier to find your files
• New quick preview lets you view photos and other files from within the app
• Scan documents, receipts and letters for safe keeping in Drive; then search by contents once uploaded
• Download a copy of files to your local device (Honeycomb+)
• Spreadsheet editor now supports changing fonts, colors and cell alignment
• View properties of files from within the editors
• Bug fixes and visual improvements

Via:  Android Blog

Google Drive Updated on Android With New Card-style UI, Document Scanner, and More is a post from: Droid Life

We usually have no need to talk about the Amazon Appstore’s free app of the day, given that it’s usually a pretty uninteresting app, but today’s is just too good to pass up. It’s a game called 10000000 and it’s not your typical dungeon crawler. 

I look at this game as the Bejeweled of the genre, pitting users against dungeon monsters, then making you play the puzzle to match up tiles and progress through a level. You collect items to help you defeat enemies, plus there is an even some big green dinosaur sightings inside. To get a good grasp on the game, check out the trailer below.

The game is usually priced at $1.99 on both the Appstore and Google Play, but it can all be yours today for free.

App Store Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cheers Nick S!

10000000 is Amazon Appstore’s Free App of the Day is a post from: Droid Life

This afternoon, Google and the team at Niantic Labs pushed out a major update for their hit game, Ingress. Inside the update, version number 1.26, information on portal health and faction controls are placed in the inventory carousel, as well the much-needed addition of notifications for portal attacks, neutralization and @codename messages. 

If you still have yet to try out Ingress, make sure to head to their forums and request as it is still a closed beta application.

What’s New:

• Portal health and faction control info on Portal Keys in the Inventory carousel.
• Android Notifications for “Portal under attack,” “Portal neutralized,” and “@<codename>” messages.
• Support for Jarvis Virus and ADA Refactor objects.
• New Recharge visual animation.
• Bug fixes

Play Link

Ingress Receives Update to 1.26, Brings Added Notifications and Portal Info is a post from: Droid Life

Over the last year or so, we’ve talked a lot about switching carriers. With policy changes frustrating consumers, tiered data hampering usage, and phones not being offered across the board on all carriers, there may not be a better time than now to consider a move. One downside to moving, though, is the worry of coverage with a new carrier not being equal to what you were previous receiving. The last thing you want to do is commit to a new carrier, only to find that your phone can barely hold a signal at home or that LTE won’t be in your neighborhood for years. 

Thanks to apps like CellMaps Mobile, you can check out carrier coverage in your area before deciding to make a move. There are a handful of apps that do similar things to CellMaps Mobile, but this app was released this morning and offers up an incredibly simple map feature and carrier selector. It does have an in-app upgrade that unlocks more features, though.

From the main screen you have options of Coverage, Insights, About, and Settings. Coverage takes you directly into a map with boxes for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 4G LTE, along with the four major U.S. carriers to be displayed. Tap the appropriate boxes, and bam, enjoy the visualization of coverage.

The information displayed is not community-generated, but instead uses the marketed maps of carriers for comparison’s sake.

If this isn’t your cup of tea, feel free top check out OpenSignal, which is a community-generated app with quite a few additional features.

Play Link

CellMaps Mobile Shows You Carrier Network Coverage Areas, Lets You Compare is a post from: Droid Life

If you checked out the beta of the complete Opera browser app back in March and want to see the progress that was made, you can now try the complete real deal. Released this morning to Google Play, Opera brings a full-web experience, complete with custom features that make browsing the web painless and quick. 

The browser features two very unique features, among many others. The first one is Speed Dial, basically a bookmarks page, but it gives the pages the look of apps. You can place pages in folders for easy access to multiple categories. The second feature is Off-Road mode. With this enabled, users are able to browse the web at high speeds even without a good mobile data connection. For people who can’t stand page loads, this is something to check out.

You can grab it for free right through Google Play.

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Full Version of Opera Released for Android, Features Speed Dial and Off-Road Mode is a post from: Droid Life

On top of all the other exciting news from Yahoo! today, the company just launched an update to their official Flickr Android app through Google Play, bringing a very polished look with it. The app’s UI is centered solely on photos and Yahoo doesn’t seem scared to recommend some great photographers that you should start following. Within seconds I was greeted by gorgeous landscapes and classy nudes. Thanks, Yahoo! 

As a cherry on top, Flickr is offering 1TB (yes, a whole terabyte) of storage when folks sign up for the service. That’s enough to get anyone signed up just the sake of having it.

Play Link

Via: Flickr

Cheers Nick S!

Flickr App Updated, Brings High-Res Photo-centric Look is a post from: Droid Life

How many times has a new Android app update been issued for a major app, yet you find yourself without the ability to update on your phone or tablet? All of your friends are showing off the new features, and there you are stuck in times of old, refreshing and tapping frustratingly, hoping that you’ll receive the satisfaction that accompanies the “Update” button. What if there was a way around the wait, at least in most cases? There is, actually. 

I’m surprised we haven’t shared this trick in the past, but never the less, it’s time that we do. Should you know of an app update in the wild, you can almost always install it directly from the web version of Google Play even if your device isn’t showing that you have an update available. As soon as you see the Play store listing of the app change over to today’s date, meaning it was recently updated, you can tap “Install” followed by a selection of the device you wish to install the update on, before sitting back as it updates over-the-air.

Take today’s Google+ update as an example. None of my devices are showing it as being available at this time on device (pictured above), however, I installed it just fine through the web Google Play on both my HTC One and Nexus 7. Also, if you got really desperate and weren’t anywhere near a computer, I’d bet that you can do the same trick through the Chrome browser on your phone.

Tip: If an Android App Update is Not Showing as Available on Your Device, Install From the Web is a post from: Droid Life