LinkedIn releases redesigned iPhone and Android app with big, bright news stories

via theverge.com

Today LinkedIn is releasing an overhauled iPhone and Android app, as well as a matching mobile website, all with a cleaner, sleeker layout that makes it much easier to navigate. The company's old design featured a sequence of nonstop gray blocks that were packed with information, but now LinkedIn is replacing those with big and bright tiles that give more room to each of the stories in the news stream, similar to the iPad app that it released last year. Larger photos and text fill up every story, and each update is separated by a simple break between the tiles. The new app also replaces the previous version's icon-based navigation menu with a left-hand sliding pane, which includes personalized shortcuts and generally lets users move around the app more quickly.

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Facebook Home Now Available Unofficially for Most Mobile Devices

via www.gadgetell.com">technologytell.com

Been waiting to try out Facebook home but bummed out that it’s not available in your country or your device? Don’t worry. MaDoCo has you covered.

According to the post, there’s a different method for supported devices in currently unsupported countries and unsupported devices.

If your device is supported, but you’re in an unsupported country, you need to ensure that both the latest Facebook main app and Messenger app are installed. Once they are, use the link he provides to install Facebook Home. Then you’ll activate Facebook Home in the Facebook application’s ‘Settings’ menu and be good to go.

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Inspiring Android App Websites

via webdesignledger.com

Last week we showcased here 21 Beautiful iPhone App Websites and I received several requests for a list showing examples of Android app websites. Last week I even added a note at the end of the article asking for suggestions of well designed Android related websites because I imagined our readers would be interested in seeing some websites designed for Android apps. Unfortunately I didn’t receive many suggestions, but I searched around and found a few really nice examples to show you. Some websites are dedicated only to Android apps, other are for both Android and iPhone, and I added those so we could have more examples.

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Facebook Home disappoints

via techi.com

Facebook Home was released this weekend for a select few Android devices, and reviews have been decidedly negative. The app is designed to replace the default home screen on Android devices with a Facebook home screen. This is meant to make using Facebook not only easier, but smoother and more immersive.

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Facebook Home now available for almost any Android device

via engadget.com

Despite an early leak on Monday, once again the internet lit-up with chatter about the release of Facebook Home in the Google Play store. All good and well if you find yourself in the right place with the right phone, but what about everyone else? Unsurprisingly, the digital door staff (read, Facebook's hardware restrictions) have already been dispatched, meaning almost any Android device can download and install the social software.

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The Facebook Phone Software Is Available Now For Select Android Phones

via businessinsider.com

Facebook Home is currently available right here in Google Play.

The app aims to make Facebook the focal point of your phone, taking over your homescreen and providing you with a feed of your friends' posts, a means to chat with friends, and keep your notifications in a central spot...

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Facebook Home: Who Wins & Who Loses

via readwrite.com

Facebook did not just launch a "Facebook Phone" last week, as was expected. Instead, along with the HTC First, it offered up Home, a "family of apps" that is neither a phone nor a smartphone operating system - but which may ultimately have a far greater impact on the mobile industry than either one of those things.

Facebook Home overlays a visually appealing "Cover Feed" onto the Android smartphone home screen. The Facebook member's Newsfeed, pictures, texts, select notifications and "Chat Heads" of their friends are all displayed. If the Facebook Home user is inside another app - any other app - and receives a Facebook Message from a friend, for example, a "Chat Head" - the friend's face and message - pops up on the phone screen. While not a true operating system, Home becomes the de facto user experience.

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HTC One Review: The Most Beautiful Android Phone Ever Made

via businessinsider.com

Until now, Android phones haven't been much to look at.

It's a common stereotype that Android devices are only made for those who don't care about design or build quality, just getting a phone for as cheap as possible.

The stereotype is only perpetuated by the fact that most Android manufacturers continue to make their stuff out of cheap, ugly plastic.

HTC isn't buying into that trend with its newest flagship smartphone, the HTC One, which is made from all metal and glass with some durable plastic accents. It's bigger and arguably more beautiful than the iPhone 5.

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Facebook Home: Everything You Need to Know

via mashable.com

Facebook announced Thursday its big mobile plans for Android: Facebook Home. Although it will initially be available only on a few models, Facebook Home represents how Facebook wants to exist on Android phones.

If you're confused by Facebook Home or just want to get a better understanding of everything the new interface entails, we've got you covered.

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44 Extremely Useful Android Apps for Web Designers

via designzzz.com

The most useful apps on the most popular mobile operating system. All apps for web designers.

Web design is a diversified field. You have to know programming and designing simultaneously, which means that you have to work with art and science at the same time.

Hats off to web designers. Getting back the post, these apps will help you do your job in an even better manner. They will help you in coding as well as designing.

Most of these apps are free, some are paid. Prices are mentioned of the paid ones.

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Lock Screen Security Hole Found On Some Android-Powered Samsung Galaxy Phones

via techcrunch.com

Remember that nasty little iOS 6 lockscreen bug that let hackers access apps on any iPhone with a few smooth moves? Well, fresh on the heels of yesterday’s iOS update that squashed the problem, another security researcher has found a similar issue on Samsung’s Android smartphones.

Terence Eden claims to have found a flaw that lets hackers access a phone’s apps, dialer and widgets even if it’s been locked with a password, PIN, or other security measure.

Just like the iOS flaw, the Samsung security hole seems to involve the emergency dialer. For a brief moment after the emergency dialer is closed, there is a window of opportunity for a hacker to launch apps or place calls. Eden says that he discovered the flaw and contacted Samsung about it in February, but the company declined his offer to hold off publication until they had a fix.

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Best Music Apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone

via digitaltrends.com

If you lump them all together, there are probably no fewer than a zillion different music apps on Google Play, the App Store, and Windows Phone Store combined. Those aren’t exact figures, but based on Digital Trends’ own independent research, we estimate that the number is somewhere between a zillion and a jillion. So as a smartphone user, you have access to just about any type of music program imaginable, from internet radio apps to guitar tuners and everything in-between. But unfortunately your smartphone has a limited amount of space, so you’ve got to be choosy. You can’t download the entire zillion apps (yet), so we’ve dug up the best music apps available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.

It should be noted, however, that the number of music apps available varies greatly from store to store. Apple’s App Store easily has the most, followed closely by Google Play – but the Windows Store is currently anemic when it comes to music apps. As such, you’ll find that the following list features proportionately more iOS and Android apps than those for Windows Phone. We’ll update the list as the Windows store grows, but for now it’s rather short on options.

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Who’s really winning between iOS and Android?

via techi.com

This is one of the silliest questions that constantly gets asked on tech blogs and is often answered by infographics. The truth is this: nobody really cares. It’s a personal choice. Some are extremely loyal to the brand or operating system that they prefer. Most are open to whatever makes the most sense to them.

Still, the question will be asked and blogs will attempt to answer it. Which major mobile operating system is winning the war, iOS or Android? Here’s another shot at answering the question, looking at some of the important numbers including activations, fragmentation, and owner satisfaction. Will these numbers sway you or anybody else? Probably not. Are the good to use as justification for one or the other? Probably so.

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Best Android Apps

via digitaltrends.com

When T-Mobile launched the very first Android-powered handset – the G1 – back in 2008, the app library to go along with it looked like a minimart beside Apple’s Walmart. But the past few years have been kind to Google. The steady release of high-profile, high-power Android handsets have turned that initial drizzle of apps into a torrent. Though it used to be called the Android Market, the Google Play store offers applications for just about everything. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up what we think are the best Android apps in several different categories. We’ll continue to update this list periodically.

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Unannounced Motorola Android phone surfaces, isn't the fabled 'X phone' (video)

via engadget.com

The fine folks at Tinhte have gotten their mitts on a Motorola-made Android phone that hasn't made its official debut. Right out of the gate, the outlet notes that it's not the rumored "X phone" since it's missing a large, stunning screen that would rival other flagship gear, but the specs still give it a fair amount of horsepower. Behind the device's roughly 4-inch 720p screen hide a Snapdragon S4 Pro (or better), an Adreno 320 GPU, 2GB of RAM and a 2,000mAh battery.

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Android Video Game Console Ouya Will Also Let You Play Against Friends Online

via businessinsider.com

Android-based gaming console Ouya seems to be coming along nicely and will have multiplayer game support by year's end, reports Forbes.

During a South By Southwest panel in Austin today, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman said the console would have support for streaming audio and video apps, but wouldn't say if big names like Hulu and Netflix were on board. Regardless, she hopes to be able to offer those services at launch.

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How to Get the Best Exclusive Features on Any Android Smartphone

via gizmodo.com

A Samsung Galaxy phone won't go to sleep as long as you're staring at the screen. An LG Optimus handset lets you run apps in tiny windows on top of the desktop, while Motorola RAZR devices can perform key tasks according to a schedule. Some call the proliferation of custom features Android fragmentation, but I call them innovation, as OEMs are adding functionality faster than you can say Google.

Fortunately, you don't need to buy a particular brand of phone to get an enhanced Android experience. A number of third-party apps available through the Play store can replicate the best custom features that Samsung, LG, HTC and Motorola have to offer.

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Quantifying Quality: Ranking The Top 60 Apps In iOS & Android

via readwrite.com

When app quality analytics service Applause was launched at the end of January, it caused a bit of a firestorm when it used an algorithmic analysis of inherently subjective data to quantify iOS and Android app quality. And you know what it revealed? People think that iOS apps are better than Android.

That assertion alone was enough to send the local chapter of the iPhone or Android Fan Boy Clubs into a fit of glee or burbling rage, depending on the allegiance.

The company behind Applause, Boston-based uTest, took the reaction to heart. As a response, Applause is launching the Applause Index, a daily look at its rankings for 60 of the top apps that can be found on both iOS and Android.

When ReadWrite had Applause run the data on all iOS and Android apps in January, one argument (among many) was that the sample apps we had Applause specifically dig into were not representative of the entire body of work of each app store. So, Applause disassembled the sample for the Applause Index, making sure that there was basically 100% overlap between iOS and Android for the indices. Applause also broke apps down in to sub-categories so people could take a closer look at how top apps in categories like Productivity, Games, Entertainment, Travel, Sports, Content and so on compare.

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Ultimate Designer Android Tools

via designpin.co

Recently I’ve been struggling with designing an Android application and generating resources needed for developers to move the project forward and I tell you it’s not so easy. Unlike iPhone, Android runs on multitude of devices which have different parameters and different look & feel. That added, designing single icon for status bar requires you to prepare 12 icons. Why so much? I’ll explain it to you in a while. While making all those bitmaps is a pain thanks to lively community there are many tools that can help you create quickly all the resources.

At the beginning I would like to show you resources that are well known but are extremely important if you want to design good application that goes hand in hand with Android design guidelines (http://developer.android.com/design/index.html) Yeap, that’s the official Android documentation that is of unpreceedent value to designer. It describes all aspects of different devices, screen resolutions, interaction design patterns that should be applied to your application

While there iOS and Android share some common design patterns there are significant differences in how applications should react to users actions. If you would like to familiar with interaction patterns on Android you should surely check out official Android Design documentation talking about interactions or Android Patters for a quick view.

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Twitter discontinuing iPhone, Android, and Air versions of TweetDeck

via theverge.com

Twitter has announced that it will be discontinuing several TweetDeck apps in favor of the web client. The Android, iPhone, and Air-based desktop clients will all be affected; the apps will be removed from their stores in early May, and stop functioning soon after. Facebook integration will also be removed.

The apps rely on version 1.0 of Twitter's API, which has just been superseded by 1.1, and as such the company warns that performance may be sporadic until it finally stops offering the products altogether. No mention is made of the newer desktop clients — while development will focus on web apps, there hasn't yet been an API 1.1 update.

In a blog post, the TweetDeck team says that in order to "offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we're going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck."

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