Android

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 [...] Full Version of Opera Released for Android, Features Speed Dial and... Click the post title to continue through and join the conversation!

Yesterday, Google announced they would shutter the Checkouts program for online merchants. Instead, those online retailers who utilize Checkouts are urged to migrate to Google Wallet, which has made some recent improvements ahead of this announcement. Those improvements, geared toward making life easier for merchants, include a few new APIs. The Instant Buy API is meant to allow for faster checkout, especially on mobile devices. The Wallet Objects API allows for a loyalty rewards program, like earned points. For merchants who may not have a payment processing portal, Google has wisely approached a few of the bigger names to offer a discounted rate for those who need to sign up. Retailers can get up to a 20% discount at Braintree, Shopify, or Freshbooks just for being a new Google Wallet customer. Freshbooks is even offering a 60 day free trial for those who migrate. There is no rush for retailers, though. They’ll have until November 20, 2013 to find new solutions for their business. Google has made the migration process as seamless as possible, which will trickle down to consumers. We only hope retailers take advantage of all that Google has on offer. A faster checkout with a rewards program sounds like e-commerce heaven.

The waterproof Kyocera Hydro Edge joins Boost and separately Sprint’s network this summer. It can withstand a splash of water and submersion in up to 3.28 feet of fresh water for 30 minutes. The new Hydro Edge will run on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), powered by 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4-inch durable screen, 5-megapixel rear shooter with LED flash, Smart Sonic... View ArticleKyocera Hydro Edge for Boost Mobile & Sprint is a post from: AndroidTapp.com Check Out More Related: Kyocera Hydro XTRM for U.S. Cellular The Kyocera Echo, The First Dual-Touchscreen Android Smartphone Boost Mobile & Virgin Mobile gets Samsung Galaxy S3

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 now has a price tag attached to it, at least for the UK market, courtesy of retailer Clove. Clove, which has the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 available for pre-order at the moment, offers it in both white and black versions. Still, you can only get the 16GB model, as the 8GB version isn’t listed. The price, no matter what color option you choose, is £460 (VAT included) – not including VAT, the phone costs £383.33. As far as the release date goes for the large-sized device (you can see how large it is in these hands-on pictures), it is the same as the one Carphone Warehouse has listed a few days ago, namely the month of July. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 won’t be coming to the UK at all, so you’ll have to settle for the large version. The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is aimed at those buyers looking for a device with a truly large screen. It has a 6.3-inch touchscreen at 720p resolution, and features a dual-core CPU and 1.5GB of RAM memory. Internal memory is 8 or 16GB (expandable using the microSD slot), with an 8-megapixel rear camera allowing you to take pictures wherever you go. The front camera is a 1.9-megapixel one and it’s also important to know that the smartphone runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s own TouchWiz interface on top of it. If that all sounds interesting, pre-orders at Clove are underway, so you can make sure you get yours come July. Are you thinking about pre-ordering a Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3?

While far from the biggest player in the browser wars, Opera has been around in one form or another since the mid-90s. Hoping to expand its presence, the company announced in February their plans to ditch the Presto framework. Shortly after, the Opera Beta app was released, leaping over to the WebKit rendering engine. Today marks another big milestone for Opera, they are losing the “Beta” tag on their Android app. So what’s new now that the app is out of the awkward Beta phase? Mostly it is about speed improvements and bug fixes, but there are also some changes such as the option to toggle the navigation bar from the top or bottom of the screen and the ability to wrap text when zooming. For those who have yet to play around with the Beta, you’ll also find quite a few other exciting features. The two biggest of these are Discover and Off-Road. The former of these features is designed to recommend content for users and is also populated with content from user-chosen categories. As for Off-Road, it connects you to the web through a proxy. Using the Opera proxy, the data is compressed before it is sent to your mobile device, which means it should play nicely with slower, unreliable networks. This is likely just the beginning for Opera, who already confirms that they will be making the move to Google’s WebKit fork Blink in the near-future. The big question is whether these changes will be enough for Opera’s browser to truly take on rivals such as Chrome and Firefox. For those that have yet to try it out, you can grab it now through Google Play. Readers that have already tried it out, what do you think?

Available from June, no pricing details available yet Following T-Mobile's announcement yesterday, Sprint-based MVNOs Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile have confirmed that they'll offer a 4G LTE-capable Galaxy S3 from next month. The device will run on Sprint's 4G LTE network, which will be available to Virgin and Boost customers in some 88 markets. Pricing for the phone itself remains up in the air, but you'll get the usual range of price plan options from Boost and Virgin. On the Boost Mobile side, you've got the Android Monthly plan with shrinking payments, starting at $55 per month, going down to $40 in $5 increments. That gets you unlimited calls, texts and web use. With Virgin Mobile, you've got monthly no-contract plans starting at $35 per month, which give you unlimited messaging and data. Besides the changes in availability and price, this device is essentially the same Sprint Galaxy S3 we've gotten to know over the past year -- 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 720p SuperAMOLED display and 8-megapixel rear camera. On the software side, you've got TouchWiz'd Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean out of the box.

Armchair generals, take note: tactical games are making a comeback. This top-down micromanaging genre was once dominated by the likes of Shining Force, Tactics Ogre, and Final Fantasy Tactics (and just recently by XCOM: Enemy Unknown) but it's surprisingly perfect for touchscreen devices; see the Great Little War Game series. The ARMA series is known for painstakingly realistic shooters, but it's stepping back for Arma Tactics THD to give the player a bird's eye view of the battlefield. You control four commandos whose mission plays out on an impressive 3D grid, strategically moving and utilizing their weapons in turn-based combat. (If you're wondering what that's like, Call of Duty players, imagine chess with guns.) Each soldier specializes in a different tactical role, with unique weapons and abilities assigned to him. Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:[CES 2013] NVIDIA Reveals Early Project Shield Titles: Blood Sword, ARMA, Real Boxing, Rochard, And More [New Game Review] Glu Mobile Releases Contract Killer - But Is It a Kill Shot? Heroes Call No Longer Tegra Exclusive, Now Available In The Play Store For All Devices [New Game] MEGATROID Boasts Old-School Gameplay And 3D Visuals - Just Don't Call Her Samus [New Game] Arma Tactics THD Brings Top-Down, Turn-Based Military Strategy To Tegra Devices was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

In June both Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile will get the Samsung Galaxy S3 with 4G LTE internet speeds on Sprint’s network. I know we’re all over the S4 these days but don’t forget the S3 is still an amazing phone! We’re still waiting on exact release date and pricing but we know it’ll be contract-free... View ArticleBoost Mobile & Virgin Mobile gets Samsung Galaxy S3 is a post from: AndroidTapp.com Check Out More Related: Virgin Mobile’s No Contract Samsung Intercept Rolls Out This Month Samsung Galaxy Reverb Review, no contract Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile Samsung Galaxy S4 coming to T-Mobile May 1st for $100 down

Taking place in Las Vegas this week is CTIA, another annual mobile/tech industry conference much like CES that takes place in January. Some well-known names are attending this year’s meetup, companies such as HTC, NVIDIA, LG and Verizon are all in attendance. Demoing their Tegra 4i processor with built in i500 LTE modem is Santa [...] NVIDIA Shows Off More Tegra 4i at CTIA, LTE Advanced... Click the post title to continue through and join the conversation!

Boost Mobile has officially entered the digital wallet space. Their entry is the Boost Mobile Wallet which is powered by Wipit and intended to offer “convenient and affordable mobile financial services.” Basically, the Boost Mobile Wallet will be for Android handsets and users will be able to send money, pay bills, top-up a wireless account and more. The initial availability will be limited, however a national rollout is expected to begin this summer. According to details coming from Boost Mobile, the Wallet will be available for users in Los Angeles and San Diego as well as parts of New Jersey. While we suspect many think of a mobile wallet as an app that will allow you to make in-store purchases by swiping your smartphone instead of your credit card. The Boost Mobile Wallet does have a bit more functionality. Details coming from the announcement note that “on a typical pay day, a Boost Mobile customer might stand in line someplace to cash their paycheck; visit an authorized Boost retail location to add money to their wireless account; and then stand in more lines at multiple locations for money transfers and bill payments.” We are not exactly sure what this is saying about the Boost Mobile user base, however if that description fits, the Wallet app should help to simplify and streamline the process. The app will allow for the following; Load cash on the wallet account from Boost Mobile authorized retail locations Send money to more than 135 countries Pay more than 3,500 billers nationwide Top-up domestic and international prepaid wireless accounts Transfer funds instantly between accounts Moving forward there will also be the ability to deposit checks using the camera on your phone. Boost Mobile hasn’t said when this would be arriving and at the moment has left it as coming soon. Otherwise, in addition to the wallet app running on your smartphone, this setup will also include a reloadable Visa prepaid card. The card will be a compliment to the app and allow for in-store swipes wherever Visa is accepted and also for use at an ATM machine for access to cash. That all being said, while we aren’t sure this will be enough to convince anyone to switch over to Boost Mobile, it could be a nice perk for current customers. SOURCE: Business Wire Story Timeline Google Wallet app update brings battery life and UI improvements Samsung announces Wallet app for Android Google Wallet physical cards cancelled ahead of Google I/O Google Wallet integrates with Gmail for money attachments T-Mobile choosing ISIS over Google Wallet