Free and Must Have: Android Apps
Free and Must Have: Android Apps
Every user have a unique technical needs. From the light users and gamers to power users and developers. These are the apps for everyone’s Android phone.

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Despite being the true home of Pocket Monsters, until today, Japanese fans weren’t able to download the smartphone phenomenon that is Pokemon Go. As rumored, Niantic Labs’ game launches in Pikachu’s homeland with a promotional tie-in with McDonald’s (it’s already offering Pokemon toys with its kids’ meals in anticipation) and the app maker says more sponsored locales and events are on their way.
Ingress, the location-based game that preceded Pokemon Go, ran multiple promotions with companies including McDonald’s and SoftBank in Japan — as well as Jamba Juice in the US. Expect see plenty more sponsored locations in Pokemon Go (well, gotta make some money when the app is free to download), but what exactly do the sponsored locations entail? The good news is that the tie-in doesn’t seem to change much at all — and could even be good news for some players.
It is, however, a substantial sponsorship. Typically, Pokestops (where you pick up items) and Gyms (where you battle other trainers) are centered around cultural points of interest — or just interesting things. The deal struck with McDonalds adds stops and gyms to the locations of almost all of its 3,600 restaurants. My local burger hole is a mere Pokestop, although according to Twitter, there are plenty of gyms to be found in the chain, too.
In a leaked email which resulted in a further delayed launch almost a month after Europe and the US, the company pointed out concerns over poor connectivity in McDonald’s restaurants, as well as people lingering without making any purchases. However, the ubiquitous chain claims that there will be places for users to develop and catch more Pokemon. Not everyone lives in a major city filled with landmarks and cultural curiosities, but there’s pretty much a McDonalds in every town in Japan.
Like Nintendo, McDonald’s has already seen its stock price buoyed following rumors of the collaboration, but whether people will actually choose to enter, pay for something, then capture or battle Pokemon remains to be seen. I stood outside to grab my Pokemon items — after all, there’s no faster way to undo all those calories burnt walking around on the hunt for a Psyduck than paying a visit to a fast-food establishment.
Google is finally executing its plan on competing against the digital wallet market against Apple and Samsung Pay with its debut of Android Pay in Australia. Unlike the two older payment solutions, Android Pay got a lot of backing from banks right after its official launch.
Specifically, 28 of them, including American Express, ANZ, Bank Australia, Bank of Sydney, Macquarie Bank, Mystate, and the People’s Choice Credit Union, with an additional seven set to support the service soon, ranging from Bank of Melbourne to Bendigo, ING Direct and Westpac. American Express and Visa credit and debit cards issued in Australia are already accepted, while MasterCard will join the party in just a few days.
Android Pay can of course be used “everywhere contactless payments are enabled”, including shops like 7-Eleven, Coles, Domino’s, Gloria Jean’s Coffees, Telstra and Vodafone. And in-app purchases are also “coming soon”, with Catch of the Day, Deliveroo, Hotel Tonight, Jetstar and Kogan among the services nearly ready to simplify the checkout process.
Pokemon GO is taking the world by storm but not all of the world seems to have the chance to play at the moment. Niantic and Nintendo gets a European sweep starting with Germany. Now, Germans can now download Pokemon GO in their iOS or Android device.
It seems a very long time since a game has this impact on the entire gaming and non-gaming community. Flappy Bird may have had this effect but it slowly died down and was never been heard of again. Pokemon GO is more than just a game. It has a great follower of generations who adored the show and the previous Pokemon games.
Although server issues are a big problem, the initial week of the Pokemon Go using the US, Australia and New Zealand servers are just easily patched up and offloaded to new servers in Europe. Germany being the first stop followed by the UK and the rest of Europe as well.
The Android Wear may not be as ground-breaking mania as expected by Google, this is not stopping the tech giant to take on the competition with the likes of Motorola and LG in the smartwatch game. With the upcoming release of Android Wear 2.0, comes a very good peak of the very first smartwatches that Google will manufacture themselves. These are leaked renders, but it is as close to feasible final product based on the design.
Meet Angelfish and Swordfish. These are the codenames for the different variants of Google smartwatches.
The renders are actually not what was originally leaked, but instead recreations with minor changes in order to protect the anonymity of the source. The recreations are claimed to be very close to accurate and at the left we can see Angelfish, which is rumored to be the LTE-capable smartwatch with extra buttons, and the smaller watch at the right is Swordfish, the typical Android Wear offering. The source claims that Google’s MODE watch bands might not be compatible given the curves of the chassis between the watch lugs, but it could also be the case that this is just a design element that is flat within.
If these renders proceed to production and actually become final consumer products, this will be mark of Google\’s first attempts of optimizing Android Wear 2.0 using their very own hardware and design. Much like what Apple do with their devices.
Android Wear software may not be on a good start but Android Wear hardware keeps a high standard of build quality on a very steep price. With updates coming just around the corner for Android Wear 2.0, the tech market can\’t deny the fact that the Moto 360 is one of the favorites from Android Wear\’s first generation. Would people buy it on a high price tag, yes. Would they buy it on a discount, definitely.
A trusted eBay seller has just posted the Moto 360 in its second generation for a crazy $159.99 in both women and men variants. The women model is the Rose Gold with brushed leather, and the male model is the Black variant with black leather. These are manufacturer refurbished units used for demos in stores and conventions. The seller guarantees that the cosmetic and functional quality of these products is of the highest grade.
With a 50% discount, it really is one great deal not to be missed.
Pokemon Go is a free-to-play game developed by Niantic for the iOS and Android platform. They are the same company who developed Ingress, a game from which the Pokemon Go was based out of. It is mainly an augmented reality game. This enables the game to spawn virtual pocket monsters (Pokemons) on a real world via a real world map using a smartphone\’s camera. The Pokemons are captured, trained and taken to battle by trainers, (the Players).
These are the requirements for you to play the game:
After logging into the app for the first time, you, as the Pokemon trainer have the opportunity to create an avatar. Choose the avatar\’s gender, hair, skin and eye color and even a number of outfits. After creating the avatar, it will be displayed at the player\’s current location along with a map of your immediate surroundings. Features on the map may include a number of Pokéstops and Pokémon gyms. These are typically located at popular meeting places, such as memorials, places of worship, parks and tourist attractions.
Players have to walk around in the real world to move their avatar in the game. Different Pokémon live in different areas of the world; for example, water-type Pokémon are found near water. When a player encounters a Pokémon, they may view it in either Augmented Reality mode or with a pre-rendered background. AR mode utilizes the camera and gyroscope on the player\’s mobile device to display an image of a Pokémon as though it were in the real world. Players can also take pictures of the Pokémon using an in-game camera that they encounter both with and without the AR mode activated.
Asus with its rich variety of Android smartphones have one problem to deal with: rolling out updates. The Android 6.0 Marshmallow has been around for a while but the Zenfones that needed such updates are yet to receive them. Asus has a lot of models to stabilize and optimize but the Max and Laser configurations were the first Zenfones to get updated last month.
Finally, the ZenFone Zoom (model number ZX551KL) and ZenFone Selfie (ZD551KL) is next to have the same. The slow and bloatware laden 5.0 Lollipop build is now behind it.
Updated software excludes the bloatware that Asus includes on its stock smartphones: Backup, ZenFlash, Remote Link, PC Link, MyFrame, and Data Transfer.
As the names suggest, the ZenFone Zoom stands out thanks to an unusually proficient rear-facing camera with 3x optical zoom, while the ZenFone Selfie sports a 13-megapixel front shooter in addition to a 13MP “main” photography taker. These are still mid-range smartphones and the premium ZenFone 2 leader (ZE551ML) remains stuck on Android L. That’s really bad, given Nougat is waiting to take over Marshmallow.
Here’s an important public service announcement: Sharp has released a new Android phone that looks rather awesome. The Aquos mini SH-M03 is the latest mini version of the bezel-hating Sharp Aquos that made its way to Sprint a couple of years ago. As such, it has negligible bezels on three sides, which allows it to fit a regular iPhone’s screen size into a device only slightly taller than the iPhone SE.
Measuring 4.7 inches, the Aquos mini display has 1080p resolution and features Sharp’s IGZO tech, which the company claims is more power-efficient than conventional LCDs. More importantly, though, this phone dynamically adjusts its refresh rate, going from as high as 120Hz (twice the typical 60Hz, meaning 60fps) right down to just 1Hz when the screen is idling. So yes, it doesn’t just look futuristically advanced and lean. It is!
On the inside, there’s a Snapdragon 808 — the same processor as in the LG V10, Nexus 5X, BlackBerry Priv, and Lumia 950 — alongside 3GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. Admittedly, that’s not the fastest or greatest chip on the market anymore, but it’s more than sufficient to deliver a smooth Android experience. The Aquos mini runs Android Marshmallow and has a 13-megapixel camera with an f/1.9 lens. All of that good stuff is encapsulated in a waterproof shell and powered by a 2,810mAh battery.
Android N was teased for months now and rumors had it that the naming competition is just marketing stunt to endorse the new Android version while Google already have the final name. What is it? N apparently stands for Nougat.
Inside Google’s Mountain View, California, headquarters is a confidential file. It is trapped within a room of vanilla wafers, chocolate hazelnut spread and a bunch of sticky notes. It’s the Namey McNameface we’ve been waiting months and months for. It is Android N.
Twitter and other forms for social media have been all over the case now.

