Android Radius

Android is the most popular mobile operating system with around 80% smartphones running on it. And now according to security experts at the firm Zimperium, there's a major security flaw in the Android operating system that can let hackers crack into someone's phone just by sending a text. Well, users of Google's OS can relax for a while, thanks to the fact that this security hole is so far not widely exploited. Now here's how the attack would take place: The hacker makes a short video, hides the malicious code inside it and texts it to your number. As soon as the message is received by the phone, it does its initial processing triggering the vulnerability. This can happen even before the sound of an incoming message reached your ears. The problem is more exaggerating due to the fact that even if Google patches the hole, it would not reach the majority of users immediately since the updates to most phones are provided by their respective manufacturers and carrier...

YouTube app for Android has finally received a major update this week. The new, redesigned YouTube app is split into three tabs - Home, Subscriptions and Account. The Home tab displays recommendations based on your watch history as well as playlists personalized just for you. The Subscriptions tab now shows small icons on the top of the screen that allow you to quickly go through your subscribed channels, viewing the latest videos of each. There is also a bell icon on the channels, tapping on which will keep you notified about new uploads from your favorite channels. Finally, the Account tab shows your playlists, watch history and your uploaded videos. The brand new update even allows you to trim your footage, tint the image with filters, add music and upload videos directly from the app. Last but not the least, for the very first time, you can now watch full screen vertical videos with just a single tap. Google has said that an update to YouTube for iOS is also o...

WhatsApp for Android has received an update which brings a couple of useful features to the popular messaging platform. The new update includes an option to mark conversations as unread. To use this feature, tap and hold on any conversation pane and you’ll be provided with the option at the bottom of the menu to mark the conversation as unread. The new version also enables users to set custom notifications for contacts and groups. You can now open any contact's details and configure specific tones for calls and messages. You can control popup notification behavior as well. The latest WhatsApp also comes with an option to use less data for voice calls. The option can be found in the 'Chats and calls' settings.

It seems that the next version of Google's Android operating system, which is currently known by its code name Android M, would not come as a major update. Rather it can be assigned version number 5.2. There were early speculations and guesses which suggested that Android M would get the version number 6.0 and will be named Milkshake. But now some thing different has surfaced. A screenshot from latest Android M Developer Preview showing Demo Mode which removes notifications, simulates a full battery and makes the UI presentable for taking screenshots has changed the whole scenario. It shows that the clock in the demo mode is fixed at 5:20. Although it doesn't confirm that Android M will be version 5.2 of the operating system, it does give a hint of what it might be. As a matter of fact, manufacturers and developers have often used the clock to make hints and in a few months from now we would get to know whether our guess is right or wrong.

Microsoft to planning to bring Cortana, the digital assistant we saw on Windows 10 to Android. A leaked copy of Cortana for Android shows that the user interface of the app is very much similar to the Windows 10 version of Cortana with a dark theme mixed with white area for content. You can access Cortana’s notebook to control information stored about you apart from the usual options for bringing up events, nearby places to eat and drink, news, sports, weather and other stuff. Cortana for Android allows users to make a voice search or enter queries in text. However the ability to activate the digital assistant by saying "Hey Cortana" found in the Windows version is missing. The step taken by Microsoft to bring Cortana to Android and iOS (also) is probably part of Microsoft's plans to get users of rival platforms to take interest in Windows and other services offered by the company in order to gain popularity. The Android version of Cortana requires a Microsoft accou...

Attention! Android users. Get ready to fall in love again with the game that took the world by storm. Angry Birds is getting its first complete sequel. Since the first Angry Birds game in 2009, Rovio has launched more than 10 other Angry Birds game of which most of them were successful. According to the company, now it's time for "the mother of all sequels": Angry Birds 2. The new game is set to hit the Play Store worldwide on July 30th. No more information about this game has been provided by Rovio. However you can check out the official website of Angry Birds 2 game to get a hint of what's coming. Check out official website

Google Photos, if you remember, was released in May at the Google I/O 2015 as a stand-alone app. Earlier the Photos app used to be bundled with Google Plus but then Google decided it was better to launch the app as a separate one. If you had given the app a go but decided that it was not for you, then make sure you turn off the auto backup functionality of the app properly or else you might find your phone uploading pictures to the cloud even after you deleted the app. Yes that's true. Instead of using its own settings menu to perform backups, Google Photos uses the centralized Google Settings menu to do such operations. The app on installation asks whether it will automatically upload new pictures to the service. If you'd chosen to do so then those settings will remain active even after the app is uninstalled from your phone. However the fix to the problem is quite easy. Just open Google Settings from your phone's app drawer, go to the Google Photos Backup tab and sw...

Google has released the Android M Developer Preview 2 which brings enhancements and bug fixes to Developer Preview 1 based on user feedback. Nexus devices running Android M Developer Preview 1 are expected to receive notifications about the OTA update over the next few days. This update brings up to date M release platform code, near-final APIs to validate apps and to provide more testing support, Nexus system images and emulator system images with the Android platform updates have been refined. Apart from the platform update, the system images also include Google Play services 7.6. Other changes include modifications to platform permissions including external storage, WiFi and Bluetooth location and changes to contacts/identity permissions. Here is a list of the key changes in Android M Developer Preview 2. Permissions changes The android.permission.USE_FINGERPRINT permission now has "normal" protection level, so it is no longer necessary to request this permission...

Google has released an updated version of Google Maps for Android. With Maps v9.1, Google adds some exciting and useful features that are very likely to win the hearts of Android users. Full screen mode in Google Maps The new Google Maps enables users to share saved maps from My Maps with their friends easily. The update also allows editing captions of location tagged Google Photos listed in Your Places menu. Another useful thing in this update is the full screen mode. A simple tap on the screen while viewing a map now hides unwanted UI elements including the search bar and quick-launch for directions. Tapping the screen again brings the search bar, GPS and other buttons back.

It's Android leading the way as we may soon start seeing webpages in a fresh, new material design look which came to the mobile operating system last year. Google has announced Material Design Lite (MDL) in an effort to bring its material design guidelines to websites using vanilla CSS, HTML and JavaScript. According to Google, MDL has few dependencies and is easy to install. It is framework agnostic, meaning MDL can be used with any of the rapidly changing landscape of front end solutions. MDL uses paper elements that are fully encapsulated components which can be used individually or composed together to create a material design site and support more advanced user interaction. Material Design Lite includes a rich set of components including buttons, text fields, tooltips, spinners and many more. There are also responsive grids and breakpoints that adhere to the new material design adaptive UI guidelines. The complete MDL experience will work on all modern browsers...

From games to office apps, browsers to productivity apps the Android Play Store is stuffed with thousands of apps that add fun and functionality to your device. So if you've got a new Android Device then look no further. Here is a list of 10 essential apps to get your new device rolling. Temple Run 2 Let's start with some fun. Temple Run 2 is an endless running game where you run, jump and slide through perilous cliffs, forests and mines in an effort to escape with the cursed idol. There are coins, power-ups and artifacts that you can collect while running. A great game for time-passing! WPS Office Now some serious work. WPS Office is a free mobile office tool that lets you create, edit and share documents, presentations and spreadsheets on the go. The app offers a range of editing and formatting tools that allows you to work just like on a computer. So why wait? Take your office on the go! Adobe Acrobat Reader Although WPS Office is capable of opening PDF files ...

Solid Explorer is a beautifully designed Android file manager with material design user interface and support for several cloud storage services. The app also supports sending of media files to Chromecast-equipped TV. One of the most interesting features of Solid Explorer is dual pane file management which enables users to drag and drop to move files between different folders. With this file manager you can view all your files from cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive and MediaFire in one place. Additionally the app has built-in image viewer, music and video player so that you can check out your media files without even leaving the app. Solid Explorer is available for free with a 14 days trial. The full version can be unlocked for about $1.75 and additional icon packs for about $1 each.

Google Chrome is a browser made for accessing the internet from your Android phone. But did you know that there's a hidden game inside the browser? Whenever Chrome is unable to connect to the internet, it displays an error message with a dinosaur on top. Tapping on the dinosaur icon makes the dinosaur come alive by taking you on a side-scrolling infinite runner game. The dinosaur can do nothing except jumping. There are cactus which come along the way of the dinosaur. Hit one of them and it's game over. Timing is very crucial in this game where you have to tap to make the dinosaur jump at the right moment over the obstacles. Too early or too late and the dinosaur hits the cactus. Overall a great way to spend time when you are detached from the net.