The Google Play Store is currently in the process of receiving an update that will hopefully quash a particularly irritating battery draining bug. More details can be found right after the jump.
We know what you're thinking; why do different app marketplaces for each mobile platform need a plethora of third-party alarm apps, when the native implementation does the job perfectly well? We have to agree to a certain extent and have always found that the simplistic alarm feature on our iPhone or Galaxy S III does a perfectly good job of getting us up in the morning. With that said, there's always room for a little innovation regardless of the app genre. And it looks like AlarMe for Android app combines necessary alarm features with a very clever weather based twist.
Mobile devices make it relatively easy to digest your messages and notifications from a variety of different sources and apps, but the situation is far from ideal. Utilities like Facebook Home have sought to make things a little less cluttered by unifying SMS messages with those received via the social network, and a newish app called GText for Chrome and Android seeks to so a similar sort of thing, but for SMS and Gmail.
iPhone’s similar home screen, which hasn’t changed much aesthetically since the very first generation, can get pretty boring very quickly, and the ability to theme the home screen to your liking remains one of the top reasons for a lot of people to jailbreak their iDevice. Thankfully, Android doesn’t natively suffer the same limitation, and even if you don’t have root access on your Android smartphone or tablet, the variety and sheer number of home launcher replacement apps available in the Play Store is enough to keep one busy for quite a while. We keep experiencing new launchers that come to our notice every now and then, and ones that we find worthy, we bring to our readers’ notice. Well, here’s one that I personally loved, going by the name of Smart Launcher in the Google Play Store.
Widgets make the world a better place, and luckily for those on Android, the Play Store is awash with them. Depending on which apps and features of a device you use most commonly, tailoring one or a number of home screens to your exact requirements is very easy thanks to the multitude of accompanying widgets available.
A new update to Google Play Store app APK for Android is now available for download, bringing the version number up to 4.1.6, and we have full download and installation details right after the jump.
If you're into your big, bolshy, animated Android launchers, you might be intrigued to learn that the GO Launcher Dev Team has been hard at work in building a home screen alternative to fit those exact criterion. The Next Launcher 3D, which offers interested parties a fully functional 36 hour trial via the Lite version, comes jam-packed with features, and is one of the most heavily customizable, fluid, and striking launchers we've ever seen here at Redmond Pie.
As planned, Mozilla has just dropped Firefox 21 for Windows, OS X, Linux and Android. Full details, as well as where to download Firefox from, can be found right after the break.
BlackBerry is on the cusp of turning its proprietary BlackBerry Messenger service (BBM) into a multi-platform experience. Keeping BBM specific to the company's own devices worked wonders when the company was flying high atop the market, but in looking to reestablish its presence in the iOS / Android-dominated market, BlackBerry is now looking to spread its popular messaging tool to users of those two pivotal platforms.
Whether you love or loathe Facebook Home for Android, its impact on the social networking scene cannot be denied. It's been a hot topic ever since the Menlo Park company sent out invitations to the 'new home on Android' event, and today, it appears as though the launcher has been tweaked to bring official support for the HTC One. Hitherto, anybody trying to install Facebook Home on the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 would have been met with a "not supported" message, but while the latter appears still to be prompting users with the same pop-up, the HTC One seems to be installing without incident.
