Adult coloring book apps are all the rage, and now Disney’s getting in on that action, too. The company has today released its own take on the genre with the launch of the Color by Disney mobile application, and app that lets wannabe artists practice their skills by coloring in templates featuring popular characters and scenes from Disney and Pixar and films. At launch, there are… Read More
Samsung is holding a press conference in three days to explain the defect in the Galaxy Note 7 that forced the product’s recall, but already it is being reported that wrongly-sized batteries were the primary cause of some units combusting. Read More
Xnet, a wonderful Spanish activist group, has created the Anti-Corruption Complaint Box, a whistleblowing platform for the city of Barcelona that allows people to file anonymous claims in a Globalleaks repository, with their anonymity protected by Tor.
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YouTuber and photographer Timmy Joe saw spectacular light pillars on an arctic January night from his northern Ontario home. He thought they were northern lights until he went to investigate. It's a totally different phenomenon, as he helpfully explains. (more…)
Scientists declared the ruby seadragon a new species in 2015, but that was based on dead specimens in a museum. Now though, Scripps Institution of Oceanography biologist Greg Rouse who led the team that originally discovered the species, managed to find two of the wonderful fish swimming around the Recherche Archipelago, off the south coast of Western Australia. Each one is about 10 feet long. Just kidding. They're 10 inches long. From National Geographic:
After four dives with a remote-controlled mini-submarine, they managed to film two ruby seadragons more than 167 feet underwater, as the fish swam through rocky gardens of sponges and nibbled at their prey, most likely tiny crustaceans called mysids...
...The footage confirms that ruby seadragons use a different means of camouflage than its closest relatives. Common and leafy seadragons are covered in leafy outgrowths meant to camouflage the fish as they swim through seagrasses. The ruby seadragon, however, lacks them—opting instead for a scarlet body, an efficient way to disguise itself from predators in the dark depths.
Most surprisingly, the video suggests that the ruby seadragon can use its curled tail to grasp objects.
Update May 2017: We've added the excellent Monoprice Hi-Fi Reflective Sound Earbuds as our choice for best sound.
A headset — earphones or earbuds (or even a single earbud) with a microphone and controls — is a different beast than a set of earbuds or headphones without a mic. For starters, not every set works with every brand of phone once you add the third wire. You need to make sure what you're buying is made specifically for one brand (Blackberry and Apple come to mind) and will work with Android when you need to answer calls and adjust the volume. And when products are cheap, there are literally thousands of choices to wade through.
We searched around the internet to see who was using what and why they liked or disliked them, then ordered a handful of headsets that seemed to be better than average. Here are your five best, including the overall winner.
Best overall
Aukey Arcs
The Aukey Arcs wired headphones with microphone are the best set of earbuds with a mic you can buy under $20.
They're comfortable, and the over-the-ear design keeps them in place for extended periods or while you're on the go. Aukey uses a silicon-coated cable with fairly large strain reliefs at the connections so you won't get things tangled up and they won't need to be replaced very often due to loose connections. The sound, while not "powerful" by any means, is bright and clear. It's perfect for talking on the phone or watching a movie or a show, and good enough for listening to music — which is exactly what you want when you buy earbuds with a mic.
What puts them over the top and makes them the best is the fit. Over-the-ear buds can be a chore to wear, but we put up with it if that's what it takes to keep them in place. Aukey's silicon cable and soft tips mitigate this very well and you won't mind it nearly as much as you would with other brands.
Aukey is well known for making products that deliver the same features as the expensive brands do, and their Arcs headset is no different.
The NoiseHush NX85 is the best headset we tested when it comes to talking on the phone. The microphone picks up your voice while you're talking naturally and the result is surprisingly clear voice calls on both ends. The NoiseHush NX85 also checks most every box when looking for a great set of earbuds with a mic. They have a flat tangle-free cable, easy to use controls to answer calls or activate any voice assistant and deliver surprisingly good sound when listening to music or watching a video.
The one place they are lacking is when it comes to the fit. The NoiseHush set suffers from the common malady that many earbuds do — they pop out too often. These just aren't going to stay in place for active users.
OnePlus makes its headphones just like its phones: solid, if unspectacular design mixed with good quality components and a great price. The Icons have compact solid metal enclosures, come with a variety of tips and have a solid cable with an in-line mic and remote. The sound is very average, but will easily be an upgrade from the headphones that came with your phone.
You would expect to pay much more for a product this well made, and the OnePlus Bullets live up to the OnePlus standard of offering more for less.
You wouldn't expect a pair of cheap earbuds to fit as well as the Panasonic ErgoFit earbuds do. The sound is average but more than good enough for your everyday commute, the design and construction are acceptable for a product you expect to replace at least every year and the call quality also comes in at average. But when it comes to how they fit and how they feel when you're using them, these take things up a notch. We're not sure what the ear tips are made of, but they mold to your ear canal much like a set of disposable ear plugs do, then they return to their original shape once you take them out.
These would be perfect for listening to an eBook while you're relaxing or any other time when the fit in your ear matters more than anything else.
These earbuds will handle calls and voice commands without any issue, but the reason they're on this list is the sound quality when listening to music or videos.
The "Reflective" design points the drivers away from the ears so the sound reflects back. This keeps your ears from ringing or hurting, even with the enhanced bass response these buds deliver.
Monoprice promises these will rival a good over the ear design, and while we won't go that far they do sound excellent. Especially for earbuds.
We couldn't test every headset. You might have a pair of earbuds with a mic that you think are better than our picks. We'd love to know about them so we can give them a look, too! Let us know what you're using and what you think of them in the comments, and let us know what you think of any of these brands if you've tried them.
It has been months since we have heard anything official from Nvidia when it comes to their two gaming tablets. Now, Nvidia has confirmed on Google+ that Nougat should be arriving for the Shield Tablet and Tablet K1 in the coming weeks…
Restaurant food delivery company Deliveroo has begun trialing a subscription service in the U.K. — presumably targeted at its most frequent and loyal customers. Read More
Listen to the music you want to hear wherever you are!
In days past the only way to really access music was by listening to your personal collection, or dealing with whatever the local radio station was playing. Today we're in much better straits thanks to streaming music giving you access to precisely the tracks you want to hear wherever you happen to be. From personalized radio stations, to playlists, to full albums, there is plenty to love about streaming music apps.
These are our picks for the best streaming music apps for Android!
Spotify Music
Spotify Music pulls to the head of the pack with its huge collection of music and the wide variety of features that it employs. The biggest perk is the wide variety of ways that you can find new music while exploring the app.
You've got genre and mood stations that are great if you're throwing a party and want to turn on music to play for a while. It's also easy to build playlists or listen to an entire album from beginning to end. With the emphasis on social connection, you can even share your music to your favorite social network, or browse the music that your friends are listening to.
If you're looking for the best option for streaming music on a budget, then you need look no further then Pandora Radio. Pandora was one of the first streaming music platforms, and it's still popular for a good reason. You can create a station for a song or artist and then you'll get music that is related. By liking or disliking the music that plays you can curate stations so that you only hear the music that you enjoy.
Pandora Radio includes not only music but also some audio you might not expect like Epic Rap Battles from YouTube and stand-up comedy sets. On top of creating and curating stations, you can also browse stations by genre or mood. As you like music you'll also get access to Thumbprint radio, a station filled with only the songs that you have liked on other stations.
While you are limited to a specific number of song skips with the free version of Pandora, once you have curated your stations this shouldn't be a real issue. You can have as many stations as you like, and it's easy to add variety to an existing station if you want to hear something new.
Google Play Music has an impressive catalog when it comes to music, and may actually come installed when you get a new phone. While it does many things very well, (especially since Songza was added to the mix) Google Play Music really shines for those of you that also enjoy listening to podcasts.
From Nightvale to The Joe Rogan Experience, Google Play Music has a full section available for podcasts built in. This means that you can search by charts, category, or by specifically looking up your favorite podcast. You can easily add podcasts to a favorite list to make them easy to find again. You're also able to manage your subscribed podcasts by auto downloading or receiving notifications about new episodes, as well as choosing the order that episodes are displayed in.
In terms of streaming music services, Tidal is still one of the younger players on the block. Don't let that trick you, though. On top of their catalog of exclusive music like Beyonce's Lemonade, or Prince's full album list, they are also hands-down the absolute best experience for audiophiles.
Tidal delivers high fidelity sound on both its songs and its music videos. While they don't have quite as large of a catalog as some other services, the 40 million tracks that they do have are top notch in quality. Tidal also boasts a ton of great music that is exclusive to the service.
Apple Music might not sound like it should belong on an Android phone, and that's where you would be so very, very, wrong. Apple Music has a solid collection of music with 30 million tracks, but it's their playlists that should get you intrigued. Building personal playlists can be fun, but there are times you just want to find awesome music with as little work as possible.
Apple Music brings you thousands of different playlists that have been curated for pretty much every genre or activity on the planet. As you find and listen to music, you'll also get special playlist recommendations that can help you to discover entirely new music. Apple Music also gives you access to a number of exclusive artists, records, and tracks, that you won't be able to find streaming elsewhere.
Streaming music lets you access the tunes you want to hear when you want to hear them. While some apps require a subscription, others are available for free, and you can find the experience you're looking for by checking out more than one streaming music service. Do you have a favorite streaming music app? Let us know about it in the comments below!
ASMRion generates relaxing "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response" soundscapes for you. There are ten sigils with sliders underneath them, each representing a particular sonic ingredient—"leaves rustling in the wind," "barbershop haircut," "whispering psychopath," etc—that allegedly trigger the vaunted ASMR response. Previously.
Petra is an ancient city found in southern Jordan that is known for its architecture. What’s unique about the city is that all of the buildings and water systems were carved right into the surrounding rocks. Last year, Google released a virtual tour of the city within Maps but now they have created a full 360-degree experience for Cardboard.
2017 indeed has what it takes to become one of the craziest years in consumer electronics; between returning old giants, sumptuous anniversaries and trust issues to resolve, the potential is everything but lacking. All of that said, one of the weirdest, most interesting trends could be flexible, foldable smartphones…
One area of focus that Google has been particularly working on for its apps and services has been better offline functionality. The latest feature of the Google app on Android queues searches made offline and automatically runs them when a connection is regained.
Google confirmed last month that it would be launching two new Android Wear watches in early 2017, and now we’re getting our best look yet at what they’re actually going to look like on paper. A new report out of the usually-reliable Evan Blass (via VentureBeat) says that both devices will be LG-made and will be dubbed “LG Watch Sport” and “LG Watch Style”, as well as details each of the devices’ specifications…
Fresh on the heels of introducing new TV models at CES, and touting its 13 percent share of the smart TV market, Roku today is rolling out a revamped mobile application aimed at making it easier to access its most popular features, including search and the remote control, while also introducing a new way to find things to watch. The company has long offered a handy companion app that works… Read More
Winter is the perfect time to stay indoors, cozy up by the fire, and drink until all that nasty weather blows over. But vodka sodas and other chilled, spritzy cocktails will leave you shivering and dreaming of summer beach days. Instead, warm yourself up with these classic hot cocktails that go beyond spiked hot chocolate.
Glögg
Glögg is essentially mulled wine—warm, sweet, citrusy red wine—with a Nordic twist. You might know it as a Smoking Bishop, Wassail, or Glühwein, but they’re all very similar. This version from Gourmet Magazine serves six and is sure to win everyone over.
You’ll need:
1 lemon
1 navel orange
1 (750-ml) bottle dry red wine
1/2 cup sugar
3 whole cloves
1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 green cardamom pod
1 thin slice fresh ginger
1/2 cup tawny port
1/2 cup aquavit
1/4 cup kirsch
1/4 cup vodka
Zest the lemon and orange, then set aside the fruit. Heat the wine, sugar, zest, spices, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, and let the mixture simmer gently for 10 minutes. Let it cool, then pour it through a sieve into a large punch bowl and add remaining wine and other alcohols. Heat new mixture in a saucepan until warm, then serve. Optional: you can add raisins and almonds to each person’s cup before serving for extra flavor. If you have guests coming over on short notice, you can make some of H. Joseph Ehrmann’s Last-Minute Mulled Wine in about half the time.
Last Stop Darjeeling
If you’re a black tea lover, the Last Stop Darjeeling cocktail from the Pearl & Ash in New York City is for you. The recipe calls for Darjeeling “2nd Flush” black tea, but you can get away with using any black tea you have on hand.
You’ll need:
1 1/2 oz Orleans bitters
1 1/2 oz dry sherry
¼ oz lemon juice
½ pot of black tea
3 small spoonfuls of agave nectar
Start by making a half pot of black tea and let it steep. Then fill a mug about ¾ full with the tea before adding the rest of the ingredients. Garnish with lemon if you so choose.
Architects and Kings
The Architects and Kings cocktail, from bartender Josh Relkin at Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago, is like an elevated Irish Coffee that’s perfect for sipping after a nice meal. What makes this drink special is a few fancy ingredients, like demerara syrup. Before you can mix this cocktail up, you’ll need to make the syrup yourself by simmering and stirring a cup of raw demerara sugar and a ½ cup of water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves.
You also need:
3/4 oz Rittenhouse rye
3/4 oz Luxardo Amaro Abano
3/4 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
1/2 oz demerara syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz hot coffee
Mix everything but the coffee in a saucepan and stir over moderate heat until steaming. Pour the mixture into a warm glass or mug, add the coffee, and top with a dollop of whipped cream. This drink takes a little more effort than other coffee cocktails, but it’s worth it. If you want a simpler take on spiked coffee, though, look no further than The Dead Rabbit’s Irish Coffee. It’ll warm you up while it wakes you up.
Maple Ginger Hot Toddy
In its most basic form, a hot toddy is comprised of a spirit (like whiskey,) honey, and hot water—sometimes with a twist of lemon. This baseline makes it an easy cocktail to customize and build on. You can basically add anything you like to the cocktail and come up with something tasty. If you’re looking for some inspiration, I recommend Matt Duckor’s Maple Ginger Hot Toddy.
You’ll need:
2 bags ginger tea
1 1/2 ounces maple-flavored bourbon (such as Knob Creek Smoked Maple)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Boil some water, stick two ginger tea bags in a large mug, then pour the water over the tea. Steep for five minutes, remove the tea bags, and stir in the bourbon, lemon juice, and maple syrup. Garnish with a lemon peel if you’re feeling fancy. For a more straight-forward toddy, I recommend the simple, but tasty Scotch hot toddy.
Hot Spiked Cider
Like the toddy, there are a lot of ways to jazz up hot apple cider. But, gun to my head, there’s nothing better than the classic rum-spiked version. This version from debmallonee at Allrecipes serves six and captures the essence of the simple hot spiked cider.
You’ll need:
1 quart water
3 orange spice tea bags
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups light rum
8 cinnamon sticks
3 teaspoons butter
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, then remove it from and add throw in the orange spice tea bags. Cover and let steep for five minutes. Remove the tea bags, then stir in the sugar, apple cider, rum, and a couple cinnamon sticks. Heat it until warm and steaming, then serve. Top each mug off with a ½ teaspoon of butter and a cinnamon stick.
Peel both lemons—avoiding the pith—then soak the peels in cognac for 48 hours in a sealed glass container. Add sugar and lemon juice to the cognac mixture, heat the milk until scalding, then mix it all together and stir until the milk curdles. Now add the grated nutmeg and let it sit for one hour. Once cooled, strain it through fine cheesecloth into a bottle, then refrigerate. When you’re ready to serve it, pour it into a glass and add a little hot water (or ice if you’d like it chilled.)
This cocktail is super easy to make. Mix everything but the rum together in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce it to a simmer and whisk occasionally for about 10 minutes. Then remove it from heat, stir in the rum, and serve.
If you’re searching for the perfect winter night cap, look no further than the Milk and Honey. It’s a very simple mixture of warm milk and about 1 3/4 oz of Bénédictine, a super-sweet herbal liqueur concocted by monks in the late 1800s. Its flavor can be overpowering if you drink it on its own, but it makes for great cocktails.
Warm up the milk in a mug, add the Bénédictine, then garnish with an orange slice and a cinnamon stick. This cocktail can also be served cold if you’re looking to cool yourself down a bit after spending too much time next to the fire. Just skip the milk warming step.
Hot Gin Punch
With this cocktail recipe, we shift from colonial America to Great Britain in the 18th and 19th century. Hot Gin Punch was a popular drink among royalty and beggars like, and is still enjoyed by many. This version of the drink, featured at traditional UK cooking site Oakden, is from the mid 1800s.
You’ll need:
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 lemons, thinly sliced, any pips removed
1 ¼ cups of gin
2 ½ cups of water
1 cup of sherry
10 tablespoons of raw brown sugar (demerara)
Mix the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan, then bring it to a simmer until the sugar is dissolved. Add the gin and sherry after a few minutes, then bring the punch up to a boil. After boiling for a few minutes, turn off the heat, add the lemon slices, and stir in more sugar if needed. Let it cool for a few minutes, then serve warm with a lemon slice.
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm, but don’t bring it to a boil. Serve it in mugs and garnish with whipped cream. If you want to make your drink even more decadent, use whole cream instead of milk.
Whether you like gin, rum, whiskey, wine, or sweet liqueurs, one of these cocktails is sure to please you and any guests you have over. So, go pour yourself a glass and wait out any blizzards that come your way.
Every year, Oxfam publishes a headline number about global wealth inequality that takes this form: "The richest X people own more than the poorest Y billion people on Earth" (some examples: 2014, 2016, 2017, UK edition).
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Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.
Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Featured App
AccuBattery
Today's roundup is presented by AccuBattery from Digibites.
Shining a spotlight on some of the best indie games for Android!
Back in November, Google put out a call to indie game developers from 15 different European countries to submit their best game of 2016 for consideration in the Google Play Indie Games Contest.
After receiving nearly 1,000 entries, the field has been narrowed down to just 20 finalists. Most of these games are available to play from the Google Play Store, though a couple have yet to be released. Among the list are a couple of our favorite games from the past year, including Reigns and PinOut.
Here's the full list of finalist, with Google Play Store links where applicable:
Each finalist will receive billboard promotion of their game in London for a month, tickets to attend an exclusive event for the top apps and games developers on Google Play, and a Pixel XL smartphone. Developers will also have the opportunity to showcase their creations to the public before the field is narrowed down to the top 10 before the winners are determined by a panel of industry experts.
If you happen to live in the London area and want a say in narrowing the finalists down to the top 10, the public is invited to attend the final event on Thursday, February 16 at the Saatchi Gallery. If you and your friends are interested in this, you'll want to pre-register in advance so that you don't get turned away at the door.
Now, if you'll excuse us, we've got some games to play!
Traveling by train is one of the simplest ways to get around, and it can also be the most photogenic. These 12 routes from around the world are so visually striking you’ll be glued to your railroad car’s window for the entire trip.
This graphic from Pettitt’s travel agency offers a glimpse of what you’ll see on each of the 12 rail journeys. There’s Scotland’s Jacobite steam train used as the Hogwarts Express in the Harry Potter films. The Trans-Siberian Railway runs over 5,752 miles from Russia, through Mongolia, to the Eastern edges of China. And, of course, Japan’s Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto, which I can attest to being pretty spectacular. The graphic shares a description of each trip, the distance traveled, the cost per ride, and the meals that each train offers, if any. Check it out below.
Android folders aren't just places to put apps. Here's what you need to know! {intro}
Folders are by no means a new concept for launchers, but they come with no small amount of stigma, especially when it comes to their looks. Thankfully, there are a few tricks for both using them and theming them that might help you learn to bite the bullet and fill up some folders.
Making folders in Android launchers
Creating a new folder on your home screen is as easy as dragging one app shortcut on top of another in most launchers. Getting rid of a folder is just as simple: you can either drag it to the trash, or if you drag all but one app out of the folder, the folder will revert back to a single app shortcut.
While most launchers don't have a limit to how much to can put in a home screen folder, as a rule of thumb you should keep it between two and nine. Once you get over ten apps in a folder, things can get a little hectic.
Dock folders
While most users stick a folder or two on their home screen, a few years back I took it a step further and never looked back: I put them in my dock. Today, my dock is almost entirely made of folders. Putting a folder in the dock means that rather than having to swipe over to my entertainment apps or my work apps, my folders are there in the dock on all home screen pages. It also frees up space on my home screens for more widgets or a cleaner home screen.
To see if your dock will support your newly-made folder, long-press-and-drag one of the icons already in your dock out in order to make room, then drag a folder down to the newly-opened space. If the folder is placed in your dock, congrats, your launcher supports it. If it doesn't, take a look at some launchers that do.
If you give your folder an action, that folder in your dock can be doubly useful.
Folder actions
Folders can be more than a simple space to dump apps, they can be gesture shortcuts. Gestures mean that folders can pull double-duty. For instance, in Action Launcher, folders can be converted in Covers. Covers make the first app in the folder both the folder icon and the tap action for the folder, hiding the folder until you swipe on that app icon.
Activating Covers in Action Launcher
Tap a folder on your home screen.
Tap the three-dot menu icon in the bottom right corner of the folder.
Tap Make Cover.
They're pretty cool, right? Nova Launcher Prime does Covers, too, just without the catchy name and the singular configuration.
In Nova, you're given a choice of assigning your shortcut to either the tap or swipe on your folder. I say shortcut because Nova lets you set any Nova action, app, or system shortcut instead of just the first app in the folder.
Adding Swipe actions to folders in Nova Launcher
Long-press on a folder.
Tap Edit.
Tap Swipe action.
Select the app or shortcut you wish to open with your folder gesture.
(Optional) To switch your Swipe action to a Tap action, tap Swipe to open folder.
Tap Done.
Swipe actions have made folders a convenient place to hide some of my Tasker shortcuts over the years, but you can also use Swipe actions to direct-dial a contact, open a favorite playlist, navigate to a frequent destination, and much more. You can also add a swipe action to any app icon on your home screen in Nova Launcher, not just folders.
Theming folders
One of the many qualms people can have with folders is that they look ugly, and in a lot of instances on a lot of launchers, they're not wrong. Background can be garish — or worse, bland — and folder icons can be busy and mismatched. But don't worry, we can fix that!
Theming folder backgrounds
Action Launcher's Quicktheme and Nova Launcher's Folder background picker
Most theming-oriented launchers allow you to change the color of your folder's icon and background away from the boring white/grey they start off with. Action Launcher lets you select one of several shades and transparencies in Quicktheme, but these shades are based on colors it extracts from your wallpaper, so it's easier to get stuck with shades you don't want, especially if you're using a live wallpaper.
Nova Launcher gives you the freedom to pick whatever color and transparency under the hex-code sun you wish. While Action Launcher can have separate colors for the icon and actual folder background, Nova Launcher makes you use the same hue for both.
Theming folder icons
Folder icons get a bad rap because some older versions were cluttered, clunky, and some were straight-up ugly. But new folder icon styles come every few years, and last year's Pixel-style 'porthole' folder icon is actually a folder icon that's not just bearable but beautiful. Choosing a folder icon style that suits your theme can do wonders, but at the end of the day, folder icons tend to look smaller and busier than single app icons.
The easiest way to overcome this is to change your folder icon to the icon of a single app within your folder. In fact, in Action Launcher, this is really your only option as Action Launcher doesn't allow you to set a custom folder icon.
In Nova Launcher, you can set a folder icon separate from any swipe gestures or apps within, which allows you a little more freedom in not only the theming of your folder, but also the placement of apps within it. Because you can set any icon you want for your folders, you can set your icon as a blank PNG file and make your folder invisible, allowing you to put your sensitive apps at your fingertips while keeping them from prying eyes.
We hope these tips encourage you to give folders a chance. Say no to massive grids of apps. Say no to swiping across your home screen pages to find the app you're looking for. Say yes to folders. And stay tuned for Android Central for more home screen tips and tricks!
Updated November 2017: This article was updated to reflect changes in launcher UIs and the continual evolution of home screen folders.
Books can be heavy, expensive, and take up valuable space in a cramped apartment. If you've been considering the jump from physical books to ebooks, you'll need to figure out the best e-reader for the job. Thankfully you've got a few options, depending on where you want to get your books, and how you want them to look on the screen.
Take a peek at our picks for the best ebook reading apps on Android!
Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle pulls ahead of the pack of ebook readers with its access to a huge library of content, which includes free books and content from indie publishers. Many classic books like The Count of Monte Cristo are absolutely free, and you can read them on your mobile device, or desktop with the Kindle app. There is a book out there for you no matter what genre you are looking for, and even includes independently published content.
Kindle Select Publishing even publishes content of varying lengths from self-published authors, or are otherwise unable to find a brick and mortar publisher. You can find titles ranging from Stephen King or Joe Hill to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Bell Hooks. Kindle Unlimited offers an endless selection of ebooks for a monthly fee.
In the app, you're able to customize fonts, margins, line spacing, and organize the books you've downloaded into collections so that it's easier to find the book you want to read. Kindle will also remember the page that you left on when you switch devices. This means that you can switch between your phone, Fire Tablet, and PC without ever losing your page in the process.
Google Play Books gives you access to a vast bookstore, some of which are free. You'll also find some textbooks, although we'd like to see the textbook selection improve in the future. You can read books offline, use a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words, and have your notes and place in the book saved across multiple devices through your Google account.
If you have a family account set up, then you can share books between everybody without having to purchase them multiple times. As you purchase more books, Google will also show you books that are similar to ones you have already purchased, in order to find new authors you may not have heard of before.
Google Play Books has a great selection for the bibliophile in your family, and will likely be loaded onto your Android phone when you purchase it. Staying within the Google ecosystem also makes it easy to share your purchases with family members, and keep all of your media in one place.
Kobo is a great way to read your favorite books whether it's on your phone or tablet. They have a gigantic selection filled with both new and established authors, including magazines and children's books. The most popular and trending ebooks are even updated hourly so that you don't miss an amazing story, even when it's coming from an author you've never heard of.
Kobo also includes a reading list, which lets you add items you are currently reading, as well as the books you intend to tackle. This makes it easy to keep track of your reading list, even when you're on the go.
As you begin to buy books and Kobo learns your likes, it will also build a recommendations list. This is made up of suggestions for new books or magazines, based on what you've already purchased. There is also a really awesome reading activity feature. It will show you how much time you've spent reading in the app, what books you are currently reading, a running tally of how many books you've read and how many pages you've turned in the process.
Kobo delivers an awesome reading experience with plenty of books to read through, as well as features that make finding a good book easier than ever. You can customize your reading experience, and since Kobo will learn your preferences over time, you'll find new authors with just a tap. As a final perk when you sign up you'll get a $5 credit to be used towards your first book purchase.
If you want to continue shopping at Barnes and Noble, the Nook app is what you're looking for. It's the company's branded app, which gives you access to a huge library of books, magazines, and periodicals.
Since this is the official app from Barnes and Noble, if you buy into their yearly membership you can apply those discounts through the app. You also get access to tons of features to customize your reading experience, like spacing, sizing, and font selection. You can also share your library with family members, organize the way you like, and bookmark upcoming books that are available for pre-order.
While being able to purchase books from a major retailer and download them to your phone is awesome, sometimes the books you want to read are ones that you already have the files for. Whether you've picked up ebooks from an independent publisher, or you've gotten the files from a now-defunct program, being able to open and read them is key. That's where Moon+Reader comes in.
It has support for 12 different file formats, from .rar files all the way to .epub files. On top of that you still are able to customize the way words look on the screen, lets you back up your library online, and gives you access to 5 auto-scroll options on top of plenty more fantastic features.
While you might miss the feel of a book in your hands, or the smell of aged paper, there's a reason ebooks are so popular: they can save you space and money. If you've made the choice to move solely to ebooks, you have a variety of different e-readers to choose from. Do you use an e-reading app? Let us know about it in the comments below!
December 2017: We've added Nook and Moon+Reader to our list, and updated the info on all the best ebook apps!
A new phishing attack hops from one Gmail account to the next by searching through compromised users' previous emails for messages with attachments, then replies them from the compromised account, replacing the link to the attachment with a lookalike that sends you to a fake Google login page (they use some trickery to hide the fake in the location bar); the attackers stand by and if you enter your login/pass, they immediately seize control of your account and attack your friends.
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The classic RPG title gets a fresh coat and controller support!
March 2, 2018: This week, we checked out the latest upgrade to Chrono Trigger for Android, and then wasted some time simulating random lives in InstLife.
Chrono Trigger (Upgrade Version)
Chrono Trigger is one of the best, if not the greatest RPG ever made. While folks are free to debate the second half of that sentence, there's no denying the impact the game had on an entire generation of gamers.
Chrono Trigger has been available on the Google Play Store for many years now, but when Square Enix recently launching an updated version of the game on Steam, they came back and upgraded the Android version, too.
What's new? Lots! They've upgraded the graphics and sound, added a new autosave function, and added support for gamepads. The gamepad support for me is always a huge thing with ported games like this, but they also improved the screen layout to better accommodate touchscreen controls.
If you already own Chrono Trigger, you can just update the app and get all these new features. From looking through the Play Store reviews not everyone is loving the changes — traditionalists are picky about maintaining the original graphics. But I'm having a blast playing through this cherish game again on mobile with a controller in hand!
I'll admit that I was initially drawn to this game because of the app icon. I figured it would be a joke game, y'know. Instead, InstLife is a surprisingly deep life simulator that lets you simulate a life — from birth to death — in like…five minutes.
You start off as a newborn baby and age yourself one year at a time. As you get older more options emerge for how you spend your leisure time, getting a job, finding love, starting a family.
But just like life, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Natural disasters and tragic events are included in and depression can set in If you don't monitor your happiness. Maybe you get your driver's license at sixteen, buy a sports car
Even though it's just a text-based game, it can still be pretty intense. Think of the "Roy" scene from Rick and Morty it's kind of like that. You're pretty much able to do whatever you want with your time, and you can get emotionally invested in this game pretty easily. It's very addicting but there's no save function so if you answer a call or otherwise exit the game that's it. Check it out for free!
Adult coloring book apps are all the rage, and now Disney’s getting in on that action, too. The company has today released its own take on the genre with the launch of the Color by Disney mobile application, and app that lets wannabe artists practice their skills by coloring in templates featuring popular characters and scenes from Disney and Pixar and films. At launch, there are… Read More
Samsung is holding a press conference in three days to explain the defect in the Galaxy Note 7 that forced the product’s recall, but already it is being reported that wrongly-sized batteries were the primary cause of some units combusting. Read More
Restaurant food delivery company Deliveroo has begun trialing a subscription service in the U.K. — presumably targeted at its most frequent and loyal customers. Read More
Fresh on the heels of introducing new TV models at CES, and touting its 13 percent share of the smart TV market, Roku today is rolling out a revamped mobile application aimed at making it easier to access its most popular features, including search and the remote control, while also introducing a new way to find things to watch. The company has long offered a handy companion app that works… Read More
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
Apple is preparing to increase the price of apps in the UK in its latest move to counteract the impact of Brexit on its business. Read More
Action Launcher's Quicktheme and Nova Launcher's Folder background picker
