Android Match

Adidas Releases A New, Separate App For Train & Run Beta

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 02:06 PM PST

Shoe maker and producer of other athletic gear Adidas has released a beta version of its Train & Run app. But it's not going with a Play Store beta program. Instead, it has created a separate entry on Google Play.

The beta is open to anyone who wants to give it a run. As for the initial changes, here's the changelog.

What's New:

In-workout new experience
New Sharing

Not many people have installed it yet, so you can be among the first hundred to take it out on your next jog.

Adidas Releases A New, Separate App For Train & Run Beta was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Get $20 Play Credit For Each New Chromecast!

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 12:43 PM PST

The Chromecast is a wonderful little machine and it could definitely make a great present for someone this holiday season. And just in case you were on the fence about purchasing one (either for yourself or for someone else) than maybe this wonderful new promo will help you pull the trigger.

Google is currently offering a $20 Play Store credit with each new Chromecast! Pretty sweet right? And this promo isn't limited to the Google Store but is also available through stores like BestBuy. But wait, there's more! Google, as well as other retailers, are still offering the Chromecast and Chromecast Audio at the discounted Black Friday price of 2 for $75! So you can get 2 Chromecasts and $40 of Play credit all for just the low low price of $75!

Now for the fine print. This promotion runs till January 2, 2016. Credits must be redeemed by January 31. 2016 and must be used by January 31. 2017. Oh, and only one offer redemption per Google Payment account so it looks like you'll have to share the wealth :).

[Google Store]

Get $20 Play Credit For Each New Chromecast! is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

The post Get $20 Play Credit For Each New Chromecast! appeared first on Android in Canada Blog.

HabitRPG Developer Releases Beta Version Of Habitica, A Complete Redesign Of The App That Turns Your Chores And To-Dos Into Quests For Gold

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 12:38 PM PST

Some people view the quantified self as a way of life. Others see it as a game. Others do both. Those folks got together and created HabitRPG, a to-do list app of sorts that lets you turn the mundane trials of everyday life into a video game.

Okay, more than a few people feel this way. HabitRPG was born as a kickstarter project in 2013. Back then, nearly 3,000 people pledged over $40,000 for the chance to experience their lives as a pixelated companion app.

HabitRPG Developer Releases Beta Version Of Habitica, A Complete Redesign Of The App That Turns Your Chores And To-Dos Into Quests For Gold was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 12:11 PM PST

Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the five most popular Android apps from last week. These apps are ones that are most likely new and haven't appeared in the top five list more than three times.

1. Flow Home (Beta)

App info: Flow Home is a new kind of Android launcher. Instead of just icons, we show things from inside the icons.

2. Paperback

App info: Paperback simplifies the way you take notes without sacrificing the features you need. Easily take, organize and secure your notes in a beautifully designed user interface.

3. Cortana

App info: Cortana is your truly personal assistant—helping you get things done by letting your PC and phone work together.

4. Cardboard Camera

App info: Cardboard Camera takes VR photos—moments in time you can relive in virtual reality. Hear the sounds as they happened, and look around to see the scene in every direction.

5. Age of Empires:WorldDomination

App info: The all-time favorite Age of Empires real-time strategy series with over 20 million copies sold worldwide can now be played on your smartphone.

Note: To ensure that all apps receive a fair chance to make the list, we will retire any app that has made the list for three consecutive weeks.

Galaxy S7 To Come With A MicroSD Card Slot And USB Type C

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 11:56 AM PST

Now that the new year is just around the corner, it's time to kick the Galaxy S7 hype machine into overdrive.

Sources tell the Wall Street Journal of Samsung's plans to incorporate a pressure sensitive screen (similar to Apple's 3D Touch technology on the iPhone 6S/6S Plus) on its upcoming Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones. It's not clear if the company is trying to implement their own 3D Touch-like functionality into TouchWiz as that could result in yet another Apple v. Samsung lawsuit.

A microSD card slot is poised to return, but only on the non-Edge Galaxy S6.

The Galaxy S6 is still known to have one of the best cameras in a smartphone and it looks like the Galaxy S7 will be no exception, with its rumoured 20MP camera with exceptional low light performance. Adding on to this, the module itself is expected to sit flush with the back, an improvement from the protruding camera on the S6.

Other features include the company's first USB Type C connector, following OnePlus' and Google's efforts. This connector would allow the phone to have a full day's charge in under 30 minutes.

[WSJ]

Galaxy S7 To Come With A MicroSD Card Slot And USB Type C is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

The post Galaxy S7 To Come With A MicroSD Card Slot And USB Type C appeared first on Android in Canada Blog.

Leveraging product flavors in Android Studio for hermetic testing

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 11:43 AM PST

Posted by Jose Alcérreca, Developer Programs Engineer and Wojtek Kaliciński, Developer Advocate

During our recent talk at Android Dev Summit, we discuss the state of testing on Android on the example of a simple Notes application that we created as part of our testing codelab . In one section of the talk, we discuss the problem of test flakiness and introduce a simple solution for setting up a hermetic testing environment.

Combatting flaky tests

UI tests with frameworks like Espresso or UI Automator can easily get flaky if the application has external dependencies that can sometimes fail or take long to respond. In short, flaky tests are tests that are not reliable (they can pass or fail randomly) which defeats the whole purpose of having tests in the first place.

A common solution to this problem is hermetic testing or, in other words, making sure that your tests are isolated from dependencies. Using fake implementations or fake servers that just return predefined data is a common way of dealing with this problem. Here are some good examples:

Network calls can be made via a fake API client or fake server that immediately returns data from files stored on disk instead of hitting the network. This bypasses the network's latency and flakiness as well as any errors originating on the real server.
Interactions with low-level framework APIs (especially those for accessing hardware, like camera or storage) can be passed through an intermediate interface. A fake implementation of this interface could return immediately, providing a reference to preloaded data, such as an image, without relying on the hardware.
Any sensors can be replaced with fakes too: GPS, microphone, accelerometer etc., giving you a chance to test on data that would be difficult to provide for the test in real life, like a preset location or a set of inputs simulating a gesture.

Dependency Injection (DI) is a software design pattern that facilitates testing, reusing modules and making them interchangeable. DI frameworks can help you deal with the boilerplate associated with this pattern but it can take a considerable amount of time to set them up and understand how they work. Before you are ready to commit to one of those frameworks for your app, you might want to explore an easier way, especially if your project requirements are simple.

Managing dependencies with product flavors

Product flavors is a powerful feature of Android Studio and our Android Gradle plugin that lets you swap Java classes at compile time and doesn't require additional libraries. Some typical examples of flavor dimensions are:

free/paid flavors to generate two different APKs that will be released on your distribution channels
stable/experimental to keep experiments in a different source set and generate beta versions quickly

We can leverage the same mechanism to create two separate versions of our app to help with hermetic testing:

prod - uses real implementation of services and components, using real data and resources
mock - for a version that contains fake implementations of dependencies that are hard to test

The procedure is very simple:

Create the flavors in your app/build.gradle file.


 android {  
      productFlavors {  
           mock {   
                applicationIdSuffix = ".mock"  
           }  
           prod  
      }  
 }

Create two directories: app/src/prod and app/src/mock
Create the class that you want to use for production code in the prod/java folder or move it from main/java. Make sure the main/java folder does not contain this class.
Create the same class (with the exact same class and file name) in the mock/java folder, but providing a different (fake) implementation that will be used for tests.
In the Build Variants window in Android Studio, choose the variant that you want to install or run tests against. A variant is the combination of a flavor and a build type.

Note: In gradle, the task names change when you add flavors. Instead of installDebug, you will now have to choose installProdDebug or installMockDebug.

Running your tests

With the prod and mock flavors configured and your mock implementation in place, you can now use the following gradle tasks to choose how your tests should run:

connectedMockDebugAndroidTest will merge the androidTest and androidTestMock directories and run every test found in the resulting source set. As these tests are run in a hermetic way, they will be faster and less flaky. This is ideal for a pre-submit check.
connectedProdDebugAndroidTest will use the real APIs and sensors so they might fail from time to time. If you have a Continuous Integration system, this task could be executed every night or used manually as a acceptance end-to-end test. Note that this task will run the tests in androidTest even if androidTestProd doesn't exist.

You can refer to our Android Testing Codelab to see how we used this method to provide different Injection class implementations, the one in prod providing real data and the other (mock) serving fake dependencies that use fake data for isolated test execution.

When you're happy with your hermetic setup, you might want to give more flexibility to your build process and add even more dimensions to be able to interchange different components in your app. While the method discussed above is suitable for simple projects, for more complex situations it would be much better to invest some time to learn about and add a Dependency Injection framework to your project.

OnePlus X will be available without an invite every Tuesday

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 10:47 AM PST

OnePlus has announced that its new OnePlus X will be available without an invite every Tuesday, starting tomorrow. Starting at just $249, this is the most affordable device in the OnePlus lineup — yet it many ways it's also the best. The OnePlus X is smaller than the flagship OnePlus 2 with its 5-inch display,

The post OnePlus X will be available without an invite every Tuesday appeared first on Cult of Android.

Inbox by Gmail will let you easily share trip summaries with latest update

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 10:41 AM PST

Inbox by Gmail has been adding noteworthy features as the updates roll in, and the latest one is certainly no different.

The new update was released on Monday, December 14, and brings with it at least one major new feature. Now users can easily share Trip Bundle summaries in a single tap of the screen. The share button, which is present in the summary header, can be tapped to quickly send a summary of a trip you might be planning to family members, friends, or whoever else you might want to send that info to.

That's not all, though. Inbox has also picked up improved attachments from a mobile device, which will let users quickly access recent photos and documents, and the option to add an email to a trip by utilizing the "Move to…" option.

According to the Gmail blog, the update will be rolling out over the coming week, so if you're not seeing it just yet, keep an eye out.

Rumour: LG’s 2016 Line Up Will Not Include A G Flex 3 But V10 Sequel In The Works

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 09:57 AM PST

There hasn't been a lot of chatter surrounding LG's 2016 devices, especially compared to the constant stream of rumours and leaks surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S7, but we do have a few new tidbits to throw your way.

According to a new report coming out of the Korean media, LG's 2016 line up will not see a sequel of one of their most unique devices, the G Flex. Despite its "flexible" design and unique self healing back, the G Flex series never really took off and it would appear that LG is throwing in the towel, at least for now. The recently released V10, however, is expected to see a sequel but that won't be happening until the second half of 2016. Again, this shouldn't be much of a surprise as the device has received positive reviews around the web and it seems to be selling fairly well (too bad it's not in Canada).

As for the companies true flagship device, the G5, the report claims that the device should be released by the end of April. If true, we should expect the announcement to happen a month or so before then. This time table could be pushed up, however, as Samsung is rumoured to be pushing for a pretty early release of the S7 and LG could and would likely follow suit as to not be outshone.

[G4Games]

Rumour: LG's 2016 Line Up Will Not Include A G Flex 3 But V10 Sequel In The Works is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

The post Rumour: LG's 2016 Line Up Will Not Include A G Flex 3 But V10 Sequel In The Works appeared first on Android in Canada Blog.

Inbox By Gmail Makes Trip Bundles Shareable, Improves Photo Attachments [APK Download]

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 09:57 AM PST

Inbox by Gmail likes to group mail together. That's much of what makes the app special. Instead of weaving through an endless sea of messages, you just dive into various groups called bundles.

Trip bundles take all of the mail from a single trip and sorts them together. Google also mines the contents of these messages to show you an agenda card that consolidates key information into a single place.

Inbox By Gmail Makes Trip Bundles Shareable, Improves Photo Attachments [APK Download] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

We’re giving away Microsoft’s amazing new Surface Book! [Deal]

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 09:47 AM PST

Why buy an expensive laptop when you can win one? The Surface Book is Microsoft's best work yet, running Windows 10 Pro and packing a detachable screen to be used as a clipboard. It's as powerful as Bill Gates himself, and it's all yours for absolutely no money. It's simple, enter to win for your

The post We're giving away Microsoft's amazing new Surface Book! [Deal] appeared first on Cult of Android.

OnePlus X Available For Purchase Every Tuesday Invite Free!

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 09:42 AM PST

From the very beginning, OnePlus has done a great job generating buzz around their new devices but there has always been one nagging issue that has plagued the company, the invites! Now OnePlus has explained the reason for the invite system and it really dose make sense to me but it's still caused a lot of frustration among prospective buyers and has probably lost them a good number of sales.

As the company continues to grow, they have been trying to make it easier for consumers to purchase their phone. The OnePlus One has been available for purchase without an invite for some time now and the OnePlus Two is also in that same boat now. The OnePlus X, the companies latest device and possibly their best bang for buck device yet, still requires an invite but not on Tuesdays, at least not any more.

The company Tweeted that Tuesdays are now Open Sales days for the OnePlus X. That's right, no invite required. While this isn't quite a flagship calibre device, at $329 CAD it offers some serious value. So if you've been waiting for an invite to purchase this guy, your wait is over…assuming you remember to buy it on a Tuesday!

[Twitter]

OnePlus X Available For Purchase Every Tuesday Invite Free! is a post from: Android in Canada Blog

The post OnePlus X Available For Purchase Every Tuesday Invite Free! appeared first on Android in Canada Blog.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow can’t keep time on some devices

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 08:46 AM PST

Android users who have already received a Marshmallow upgrade are noticing that Google's latest release has trouble keeping time. The system clock is falling behind on some devices, and some users are reporting a delay of up to 30 minutes over a 24-hour period. This is a big problem if you rely on your Android device to wake you up

The post Android 6.0 Marshmallow can't keep time on some devices appeared first on Cult of Android.

[Missed Steak] Allthecooks Rebrands As Cookpad, Dumps Allthethings Users Loved About The Original App

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 07:38 AM PST

allthecooks-cookpad

Whenever a service we use gets bought by another company, we're always filled with hope and anxiety over its fate. It could either be a case of growth and improvements or a slow dwindling descent into irrelevance. I'm afraid Allthecooks may start falling into the latter category if its new owners don't react swiftly to the criticism of their most loyal users.

Allthecooks has long been among the most beautiful and capable recipe and cookbook apps on Android.

[Missed Steak] Allthecooks Rebrands As Cookpad, Dumps Allthethings Users Loved About The Original App was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Buy a new Chromecast and get $20 in Google Play credit

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 07:09 AM PST

If you don't own a Chromecast yet, Google would like to give you $20 for buying its media streaming dongle. Right now, you can buy a Chromecast for only $30 and Google will give you a $20 Google Play credit, making it one incredible deal. With $20 Google Play credit you will be able to rent 4 to 5 movies or buy one HD title, but you can honestly use the cash to anything on Google Play. If you want to spend it on in-app purchases to get you ahead in Clash of Clans or buy a good book, there's nothing Google can do about it.

Google is running the $20 Google Play Credit promotion for US residents only between now and January 2, 2016. Just make sure you the credit is added to your account by January 31, 2016, and used up by January 31, 2017.

Will you be gifting the new Chromecast this year or buying one for yourself?

Galaxy S7 to arrive in March with iPhone’s best feature

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 06:45 AM PST

Samsung's next-generation Galaxy S7 will get its grand unveiling in March, and its big selling point will be an iPhone-like pressure-sensitive display, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing sources familiar with the company's plans. It's thought the Galaxy S7 won't be a massive departure from the Galaxy S6, and could well carry a very familiar design.

The post Galaxy S7 to arrive in March with iPhone's best feature appeared first on Cult of Android.

WSJ: Samsung Galaxy S7 to feature pressure-sensitive display, faster charging, better camera

Posted: 14 Dec 2015 05:39 AM PST

With 2015 winding down, all major Android manufacturers are now focusing on their 2016 flagship devices. While the Samsung Galaxy S6 was one of the best-selling Android smartphones of 2015, Samsung isn't going to sit back and hope to repeat the phone's success by releasing an incremental upgrade next year. With only a few months to go before the Galaxy S7 is likely unveiled at Mobile World Congress, the Wall Street Journal has gotten wind of a few new features that will be included in the device.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Galaxy S7 will feature a pressure-sensitive display, similar to the 3D Touch display on Apple's iPhone 6s. The S7 is also said to come with a USB Type-C charging connector that would "allow for a full day's charge in under 30 minutes and in some cases significantly faster than that." The camera on the S7 will feature low-light imaging improvements, and Samsung is working on a variant of the phone which will sport a retina scanner as well. There's no guarantee that that specific variant of the phone will make it to market, but we certainly wouldn't mind an alternate way to keep our data secure on our phones along with the fingerprint reader.

Other Samsung Galaxy S7 rumors claim that the basic design of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge will not be too far off from the Galaxy S6 and that the phones will again use Qualcomm chips.