is the latest zombie shooter from MADFINGER Games, the same developers that brought us such Android games as Dead Trigger 2 and Shadowngun. In fact, UNKILLED has replaced Dead Trigger 2 as the best zombie shooter on Android right now. It features great graphics, over 300 missions to complete with boss fights, various weapons and things to unlock and upgrade, online PvP mode, and the graphics get even better if you’re using a Tegra X1 device. Yes, it’s a freemium game but it’s a definitely a good
This War of Mine is so good that we awarded it the best game released in 2015. In this survival game, you lead a crew of civilians in a city torn apart by war. You’re tasked with making difficult decisions that have heart wrenching results with survival being the key. It comes with good graphics, plenty of content, and a hefty price tag with no in-app purchases. It’s one of the deeper Android games that can really get the emotions going.
the best Android games ever. It’s an augmented reality game similar to Ingress where you walk around the real world, catch Pokemon, battle for Gyms, and hit up Pokestops to restock on items. It beat virtually every record in the books in a relatively short order. The game has had a history of server issues and they’re still tinkering with various mechanics, but if you can get passed that, this is a special game
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is pretty much what every gamer could ask for on mobile. As with most Grand Theft Auto games, it comes with an open world to explore, dozens of hours of game play, decent graphics, a story line, and plenty of stuff to do. You’ll join a former gang member who returns to the hood to retake his neighborhood and avenge his deceased mother. Rockstar Games also included controller support, graphics settings, and cloud save support to put a bow on a pretty awesome little package. It’s a gigantic game and best of all, there are no in-app purchases.
The Walking Dead: Season Two is a five-part (Episodes 2-5 can be purchased via in-app) game series that continues the story of Clementine, a young girl orphaned by the undead apocalypse. Left to fend for herself, she has been forced to learn how to survive in a world gone mad. Many months have passed since the events seen in Season One of The Walking Dead, and Clementine is searching for safety. But what can an ordinary child do to stay alive when the living can be just as bad – and sometimes worse – than the dead? As Clementine, you will be tested by situations and dilemmas that will test your morals and your instinct for survival. Your decisions and actions will change the story around you, in this sequel to 2012’s Game of the Year.
Today, we’re taking the wraps off of Android 7.1 Nougat, the latest version of the platform. You probably saw a sneak peek of it at last week’s event. It’s an incremental update based on Android 7.0 but includes new features for consumers and developers — from platformDaydream VR support and A/B system updatesto app shortcuts and image keyboard support.
We’ve already been working closely with device makers to get them ready for Android 7.1, and next we’ll give you access to this update so you can start getting your apps ready.
Later this month we’ll be bringing you the Android 7.1 platform as an open Developer Preview, similar to what we did for Android 7.0. You’ll be able to test and build on the new platform and try the latest features.
As always, we’ll deliver the Developer Preview through the Android Beta program, which makes it incredibly easy to participate.
What’s in Android 7.1?
Android 7.1 delivers the productivity, security, and performance of Android 7.0, along with a variety of optimizations and bug fixes, features, and new APIs (API level 25).
For developers, Android 7.1 adds new capabilities to help you drive engagement in your app and deliver an improved user experience, such as:
App shortcuts API — lets you surface key actions directly in the launcher and take your users deep into your app instantly. You can create up to 5 shortcuts, either statically or dynamically.
Circular app icons support — lets you provide great-looking rounded icon resources that match the look of Pixel and other launchers.
Enhanced wallpaper metadata — lets you provide metadata about your wallpapers to any picker displaying the wallpapers as a preview. You can show existing metadata such as label, description, and author, as well as a new context URL and title to link to more information.
Android 7.1 also adds these much-requested developer features to the platform:
Image keyboard support — expands the types of content that users can enter from their keyboards, letting them express themselves through custom stickers, animated gifs, and more. Apps can tell the keyboard what types of content they accept, and keyboards can deliver all of the images and other content that they offer to the user. For broad compatibility, this API will also be available in the support library.
Storage manager Intent — lets an app take the user directly to a new Settings screen to clear unused files and free up storage space on the device.
For carriers and calling apps, the platform includes new APIs to support multi-endpoint calling and new telephony configuration options.
Image keyboard support: Let users input images and other content directly from a keyboard.
App shortcuts: Use app shortcuts to surface key actions and take users deep into your app instantly.
Get your apps ready
Android 7.1 is an incremental release, but it’s always important to make sure your apps look and run great — especially as devices start to reach consumers.
The Android 7.1 Developer Preview will give you everything you need to test your apps or extend them with new features like shortcuts or keyboard images. Included are the SDK with new APIs, build tools, documentation and samples, as well as emulators and device system images for running your apps on supported Nexus devices. We’ll also include a launcher and apps that support app shortcuts, and a keyboard and apps that support keyboard images.
If you want to receive the Developer Preview automatically, visit Android Beta and enroll your device. If you previously enrolled a device and haven’t unenrolled, your device will receive the update. If you already enrolled but don’t want to receive the update, visit Android Beta to unenroll the device as soon as possible.
Initially, we’ll offer the Developer Preview for Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, and Pixel C devices, extending to other supported devices by the end of the preview. At the final release of the Android 7.1.x platform, due in early December, we’ll roll out updates to the full lineup of supported devices — Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9, Player, Pixel C, and supported Android One devices — as well as Pixel and Pixel XL devices.
Coming to consumer devices soon
We’re working with our partners to bring Android 7.1 to devices in the ecosystem over the months ahead, so we recommend downloading the Android 7.1 Developer Preview as soon as it’s available. Test your apps for compatibility and optimize them to look their best, such as by providing circular app icons and adding app shortcuts.
Everyone day, more than 100 million people use Facebook events to discover things they can do with their friends — from festivals and 5Ks to neighborhood fairs and nightlife. With hundreds of millions of events shared on Facebook every year, the fear of missing out is becoming a thing of the past.
Today we’re announcing Events from Facebook, a new app we designed for event seekers who are passionate about keeping up with nearby events and finding things to do with their friends. Whether you’re looking for something to attend this weekend or just wondering what’s happening in your area, Events will help get you there.
Here’s how it works:
When you open Events, you can quickly catch up on new events your friends are interested in, recently-announced events by the Pages you like, and updates from events you’re already connected to.
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend or even right now, you can easily browse event recommendations based on time, location and your interests. Explore events happening where you are or in places you like to go using the interactive map. You can also search for events in any city if you’re planning ahead for a trip.
Finally, you can keep track of all of your upcoming events in the calendar, which lets you see which days you’re already attending an event and when you’re free. You can even choose calendars you want to add from your phone and view them alongside your Facebook events, so it’s easier to make plans.
The actions you take on events in the app will also be visible and available on Facebook. This way, your friends can see what you’re interested in and what events you’ve shared with them, even if they don’t have the app.
Events is available in the App Store for iPhone users in the US today, and is coming soon to Android.
It’s final. Samsung is not doing a second round of recall but it’s ending production. We reported earlier that production and sales have been discontinued in South Korea. Even the exchange program has been halted globally already. This time, we’re hearing from Samsung once and for all that its ending production of the Galaxy Note 7 after the global recall. Despite the company’s attempt to make the batteries “safer”, more problems arose and more explosions were reported in different countries.
This hurts but Samsung is ending production. The Note 7 has been the cause of many problems lately so we’re guessing it is better for the company to just put an end to it. Sales and replacement programs were expected to resume in some key markets but plans have been changed. After a series of unfortunate events featuring the Galaxy Note 7, it’s wiser to just stop production.
Samsung said earlier:
“TAKING OUR CUSTOMER’S SAFETY AS OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY, WE HAVE DECIDED TO HALT SALES AND PRODUCTION OF THE GALAXY NOTE 7.”
We know safety is Samsung’s top priority so ending the production and sales is better. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged the phone owners not to use the Note 7 anymore to avoid possible explosions.
Meanwhile in its native country, Korea Agency for Technology and Standards requested retailers to stop exchanging the unit. They were urged to stop selling altogether. It’s about time Samsung offers a more definite solution as shares have been going down lately. We’re talking about a market value of almost $17 billion .
All-In-One Toolbox (Cleaner) at it’s core features one-touch junk cleaner & memory booster tools, plus features a whopping more than twenty other tools for keeping your Android optimized and running speedy! Dashboard offers a fancy reading of current ROM (space available on internal storage), RAM and SD card storage. This is followed by a few one-touch options; Clean and Boost.
The Cleaner allows for easy one-click removal of items the app determines to halter device speed. These include background processes, app cache, temporary files, empty folders, app leftovers and more. Alternatively, there is an advanced option to manually select granular items you would like to remove or keep. This further elaborates to call & text message logs, browser & search history, messaging & saved app passwords, etc.
The Booster scans your device for active running apps you can opt to kill all at once or select individual apps. In the options are white-list settings for apps you desire to always keep running in the background. With all task killer apps I interject my personal opinion- killing apps in the background tends to offer a temporary boost as the removed app will likely be placed back into active memory thus resuming memory consumption later. Furthermore, default Android does a superb job of managing tasks automatically.
Anywhoo, my opinion aside, the Toolbox hosts tons more tools which include:
Batch app installer & uninstaller
Backup and restore APK apps
System app uninstaller (for root devices). It’s possible to remove carrier bloatware!
App2SD (move apps to SD card)
Boot Speedup (for root devices). Stop background processes from starting when you boot your device. This can decrease startup time!
Customize startup apps
Basic file manager
Add-on plugins can be installed such as App Lock, Permission Checker, QR barcode scanner, and more
Appetizer (promoted apps)
Lastly, All-In-One Toolbox Cleaner features a customizable home screen widget for quick toggles and shortcuts. Download all in onr toolbox
Pixel XL is Google's 5.5-inch phone that takes the top-of-the-line specs of its Pixel phone and maximizes the screen and battery life. It has a fast processor and great software, and it promises a great camera, but it's expensive compared to a Nexus phone.
FOR
Great Android software
Newest Qualcomm processor
Newfangled VR capabilities
AGAINST
More expensive than a Nexus phone
Camera aperture is f/2.0
Design isn't stylish or waterproof
You don't have to shop in the big-and-tall section of stores to want the Google Pixel XL. It's a powerful phablet at a still-reasonable size, and it's made by Google.
This 5.5-inch Android phone is the successor to last year's Nexus 6P, as Google is altogether ditching the affordable, developer-focused Nexus brand in favor of this new Pixel XL and its smaller 5-inch Pixel counterpart.
Here's our hands-on video review of the Pixel XL
You're getting top-of-the-line specs now, but also a noticeable price bump. The Pixel XL has a metal body, a 2K resolution screen and debuts a blazing-fast Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB of RAM inside.
Big highlights we're testing out right now for our review include the 12.3MP camera on the back and the 8MP shooter on the front. Google says the rear camera is the best ever in a smartphone – we'll be the judge of that. If you're upgrading from a two-year old Android phone, the fingerprint scanner is also a big deal.
What hasn't changed in the move to the Pixel XL moniker is that the new phone features the latest version of Android:Android 7.1 Nougat. This gives the phoneGoogle Daydream VR capabilities to rival the Samsung Gear VR.
The Google Pixel XL is sized to compete with the elegantly designed Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (that's the one that doesn't explode) and iPhone 7 Plus – but does it really pack enough punch to make it onto our best phones list? Let's find out.
Price and release date
The Google Pixel XL price is more than your average Nexus phone at launch. The official price in the US is $769. That's just as much as a top unlocked phone from almost any other manufacturer, including Apple's iPhone 7 Plus.
Alternatively, in the US, you can buy the Google Pixel XL at Verizon and pay that price over the course of 24 months at a rate of $32 a month.
It was announced to be a Verizon exclusive, but don't worry, that's only for people looking for a subsidized plan. AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint users can just buy the unlocked version from the Google Store.
The Google Pixel XL price in the UK is £719. Again, that's expensive for a Google-made phone. The same goes for Australia, where the phone starts at AU$1,269.
Google is readying its new Android 7.1 phone to launch on October 20. Pre-orders began on October 4 in the US, UK and Australia.
Design and display
The Google Pixel XL blends together glass and metal, and it's attractive, even if the two-tone design on the back and large front bezels aren't as stylish as a Samsung phone. And it's way better than the renders that leaked.
Glass makes up the top half of the back, where the fingerprint sensor and camera reside. There's nothing notable on the button-free front of the phone, as Google uses on-screen buttons in stock Android.
Specs
Unless you've managed to get your hands on an Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe this is probably the first smartphone you'll be able to try with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 processor. It's a step ahead of the Snapdragon 820 that's in just about every other big Android phone launched in 2016.
What's that mean for you, exactly? The new System-on-a-Chip promises better performance to the tune of a 10% increase in speed. It's snappy from our quick testing.
It's also helped out by the fact that there's 4GB of RAM here, giving you a higher ceiling for opening up all sorts of intensive apps at once. The Nexus 6P had 3GB of RAM, which was the norm for 2015.
Once again, there's no microSD card slot in the Pixel XL. That hasn't changed in the Nexus-to-Pixel conversion. Instead, you'll have to rely on the 32GB or 128GB of internal storage here. No, there's no 256GB model either.
Camera
Don't let the 12.3MP camera fool you in an age where some other Android phones have 20MP cameras, as Google claims that the Pixel XL's camera is the best ever.
We've heard promising claims before from Google, and while the Nexus 6P camera was good, it was still far from the best next to Samsung and LG phones in dimly light environments.
The rear camera uses large 1.55 micron pixels, which should help it capture more light, but it has an f/2.0 aperture - which is to say a fairly small opening in the lens, thereby letting less light in to begin with than some phones, so we're eager to test out how exactly these camera specs amount to "the best."
On the front, there's an 8MP front-facing camera, which on paper is better than a lot of the 5MP selfie cameras that we've seen on many Androids, though we've snapped a few selfies and it's hard to tell the difference in a poorly lit demo room.
4K video is also here, and we're interested to see how it turns out next to theSamsung Galaxy S7 and LG V20, since both those phones feature impressive steady shot technology. Google showed a demo of it working flawlessly, of course. Check back for camera samples in our full Google Pixel XL review.
Battery life
Impressive specs are nothing without longevity, but that may not be a problem here as the Google Pixel XL battery is supposed to last more than a day, thanks to a 3450mAh capacity.
That's the same size as the Nexus 6P battery, but it's likely to last even longer as the Google Pixel XL's display is slightly smaller at 5.5 inches instead of 5.7 inches, so there's less screen to light up.
There are two more reasons the Pixel XL's battery is likely to be better. First, the Snapdragon 821 processor should be more efficient than the Snapdragon 810 chip.
Second, and most importantly, Android Nougat features behind-the-scenes Doze 2.0 technology that better suspends needless activity while your phone is idle, on your desk or in your pocket.
We'll run a full battery life test on the Google Pixel XL when we get a final review unit in our hands.
Early Verdict
You won't have a rough transition between liking Nexus phones and enjoying the Google Pixel XL. It's still the best way to enjoy the latest version of Android.
The phone won't take forever to get an upgrade to Android 7.1 Nougat, because it's here out of the box, complete with Google Daydream VR capabilities. Future Android updates are going to debut on this phone, too, at least for a while.
Even better, it's the first to offer the fast Snapdragon 821 processor in the Western world. The Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe didn't come out in time to claim its "world first" title in the US and UK.
All of this makes the Pixel XL a more expensive phone than the Nexus 6P – but the cost is in line with other top-tier flagship handsets. It's just more money than a Nexus device.
But think about it, no Nexus debuted both new specs and new software. Google is finally providing consumers with both on a stock Android device. That's a big switch.
We'll have to get used to the Pixel name and this phone's two-tone finish of shiny glass and matte metal on the back, and do our best to forget about the needless bezels.
That'll be a simple ask if the camera and battery life hold up in our forthcoming full review of the new best way to experience the latest Android has to offer.
