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Google launches Android Pay on Google Play Store

Google is beginning to roll out the Android Pay app on the Google Play Store. The Mountain View Company announced Android Pay earlier this year at Google I/O along with Android M, the successor of Android Lollipop. Android Pay is a new NFC-based payment service for Android phones and is an effective successor to Google Wallet, although Google Wallet still remains as a service for sending P2P payments. The roll out of the new app actually began last week as an update for Google Wallet users, however, from now onwards the app will be available to all users for direct download. The smartphones must be running Android 4.4 Kitkat or above and equipped with NFC hardware in order to use the app. Presently, the service will only be available in the US and will support a variety of credit and debit cards from various US banks and credit unions.

Google reveals Marshmallow as the name for Android 6.0

Google has finally revealed the name for the upcoming Android M update which is set for release this fall. And the name is Marshmallow. That's right! Marshmallow stands for the M in Android M. The company has announced that Android M will be the next major version of the Android OS. It will be version 6.0. The finished version of Android 6.0 SDK along with Android M Developer Preview 3 has also been released, which can be loaded on Nexus devices. Android Marshmallow brings a simpler approach to app permissions providing users more control over what information apps can access. Google's new Android Pay mobile wallet platform, USB Type-C support, a new app drawer and a couple of other tweaks and improvements are included in this year's Android update. Android 6.0 is the successor of Android Lollipop, which brought significant user interface and visual changes to the operating system last year.

Google unveils Android Experiments to showcase the most innovative apps

Google, which has now become a subsidiary of Alphabet, seems to be trying to focus mainly on their core domains namely Search, YouTube and Android. The result is right in front of us with the launch of Android Experiments, a website platform to showcase the most creative apps built off the OS. Similar to the Chrome Experiments which was launched way back in 2009, the site is open to anyone and everyone. Android developers can submit their projects and demos as long as they remain open source and work on Android 4.4 (KitKat) and higher. And, of course, they should make use of new or unique features of the Android platform and various innovative ways to interact with the devices. Currently, there are just 20 projects available on the website but we hope that the number is surely going to increase soon.

Microsoft launches Translator app for Android

In the past few months, it is being noticed that Microsoft is launching new apps one after the other on its rival platforms. It might be an effort to attract new users to the Windows Phone platform. The latest from Microsoft is a Translator app. The app has been released for both Android and iOS. As you can expect, it is similar to Google Translate and works on smartphones, tablets and even smartwatches. The app is simple and easy to use. Simply open the app and either type or talk the word or phrase that you need a translation for. Wait for a moment and you have instant translation. The app even lets you pin certain translations that you require frequently. Users can also pull up a history of words or phrases previously translated, kind of helpful for learning purposes. Microsoft Translator supports 50 languages - twice the number of languages supported by Google Translate. "Our researchers are continuously looking at the most effective ways to bring down linguistic barrie

Android Lollipop Runs 18.1% of Active Android Devices Worldwide

Google has released the latest Android version statistics on August which clearly shows that Android Lollipop is gaining in percentage. This information is usually updated by Google every month but this July, mysteriously, the company skipped the update. Beginning with the latest version of Android available, namely, Lollipop presently stands at 18.1 percent of the all active devices powered by Android. This is an impressive 6% increase compared to the June update. Android KitKat, however, continues to hold the top spot with a share of 39.3%. Jelly Bean's share has declined from 34.7% in June to 33.6% in August. And, the ageing Gingerbread and Froyo continue their descent into oblivion, now standing at a mere 4.6 percent and 0.3 percent respectively. These stats are based on active Android devices. Google defines active devices as those that have checked into Google’s Play Store app during this period.

How to enable Chrome tabs in Android Lollipop

In Android Lollipop, Google changed the way tabs are handled in Chrome browser. Now, by default, Chrome tabs do not appear within the app. Instead they appear as separate apps in the Overview which also displays other recently used apps. Although, Google thinks that it is better to have tabs as separate apps, but you might not feel so. It's easy to get lost within recent apps and tabs. Thankfully there's a simple remedy to this problem. All you have to do is open Google Chrome and head to Settings > Merge tabs and apps. Then just turn off the feature. You will be notified that the tabs will move inside the Chrome app. That's all! You can now switch between tabs in Chrome just like you did in the previous versions of Android.