You might think that Android is a pretty big player in the mobile space, but do you know how big? It’s huge, actually, taking up around 70 percent of the worldwide market share. That means tons of phones and bajillions of apps.
According to AppAnnie, mobile app downloads are projected to hit nearly 260 billion, up almost 50 percent from just a few years ago. If you’ve ever thought about turning your idea into an Android app, you’re in luck. Right now, the Android 9 Development Cookbook ebook can point you in the right direction.
Sure, Android 11 is in full swing now and version 12 is on its way, there are plenty of reasons to develop for an older build. This is especially true as the newer releases are more about polish and refinement.
This extensively updated cookbook helps you find solutions for working with user interfaces, multitouch gestures, location awareness, web services, and other device features.
Lifetime access to eBook with 464 pages
Find solutions for working with the user interfaces, multitouch gestures, location awareness, web services, & device features
Get useful steps on packaging your app for the Google Play Store
Learn many tips & tricks on the rich features of Android Pie
The coursework walks you through deploying various app solutions to actually start creating your own apps. It will help you examine how to modernize and enhance app interfaces, how to make apps communicate better between activities, and even how to troubleshoot.
Cobra Kai is one of the best shows on TV and seems to have only gotten more popular after having been acquired by Netflix. It features the return of two central characters from the Karate Kid movie and features a cast of new characters that fans have come to love.
Cobra Kai Card Fighter is a mobile game based on the series and features a unique twist on the usual deck-building games. Here is what we think about it, and if it is for you.
This is a free-to-play game, available on both Android and iOS, and features a multiplayer system that pits players against each other in live PvP modes.
Gameplay
Unlike other deck-builders, players have to choose cards at the same time behind screens, and there isn’t exactly a turn-based structure here. You build a deck of 30 cards, and there are various moves that range from kicks, punches, grabs, boosts, and health cards that you can choose from. Now, each turn, you choose three cards from the ones you drew. The opponent is doing the same, and players are given some time to decide.
After you have a sequence of three cards decided, both players’ cards will be pit against each other in a rock-paper-scissor scenario. We won’t spoil which card cancels out which, but to give you a general idea, if you picked Kick, it will beat a Punch. If both players had the same card in the sequence, it will be considered a draw, for example, if your second card was a kick, and the opponent’s second card was a kick as well, it will be considered a draw.
Essentially, your goal is to finish off your opponent, and their health bar. Each card has an energy requirement too, so you will be using energy boost cards to maintain that. The gameplay itself isn’t exactly deep, but it is fairly engaging. Especially if you want to kill some time, and collect more cards on the go.
A game like this would have been better with on-screen combat buttons like Mortal Kombat Mobile, but the deck building helps in giving it a unique element.
Visuals and Audio
Considering this is a mobile game, the visuals are decent enough. Players’ characters are shown on-screen as they perform the various card moves you have decided for them. These short bursts of animations are surprisingly well done for a mobile game and provide both players some visual feedback on their decisions. Usually, card games don’t exactly animate their player avatars, and since this is a karate game, it does commit to that part, with a lot of effort.
Character portraits are well done, and all the game icons are self-explanatory. The menus aren’t very cluttered either, so navigation throughout the game is fairly simple. We have various characters from the TV show as playable characters, mainly the teen stars.
The game sounds fine, and as well as you would expect. I would’ve appreciated, if the general soundtrack was a bit more thrilling, and it sometimes falls flat even during intense encounters. The grunts and impact sounds of characters are pretty good though and keep players engaged throughout the match.
Here are a few screenshots of the game in action.
Online Experience
Since this game is entirely online, you will be either taking part in Quick, or Ranked matches. These are fairly self-explanatory, where Ranked has higher stakes. Now, finding a player wasn’t that hard, and it took me a few seconds in most cases. Given how this is a free-to-play title, the player-count is pretty healthy at the moment. So for now, the online experience is satisfactory, without any disconnections whatsoever. Hopefully, the developers keep adding content to the game to keep players engaged, which in turn will ensure that there are enough players to keep online play functional. Given how there is a turn-based element to the game, your ping doesn’t matter all that much either.
Conclusion
Cobra Kai Card Fighter is a fun game, that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It features characters from the hit TV show from NETFLIX and puts a unique spin on the deck-builder genre. You can face off against other players in a deeper version of rock-paper-scissors with energy management, and a decent amount of strategy. The visuals and audio are decent, and the online experience is good enough. Recommended for players looking to kill time.
T-Mobile announced it will soon begin offering its T-Mobile Tuesdays incentives and promotions to its Metro prepaid brand. Effective Tuesday, March 30, the weekly exclusive offers, discounts, and perks will be available to those who subscribe to Metro by T-Mobile.
With this move T-Mobile becomes the only wireless company to provide both prepaid and postpaid customers with the freebies and goodies.
Back for a sixth year in a row, T-Mobile customers will be able to pick up a full year of MLB.TV subscription just for being a subscriber. Worth about $130 were you to purchase it on your own, it’s available to every line on an account.
With MLB.TV, customers won’t just get to continue watching games while they’re away from the ballpark, they’ll get exclusive looks into world of baseball with features, documentaries and classic games. Fans can stream every out-of-market game live or on-demand, with live game DVR controls to pause and rewind in HD.
If you want to take advantage of the offer, you’ll want to sign up before April 6 at 5AM EST because that begins a new T-Mobile Tuesday and the deal goes away.
To get MLB.TV, customers need to download the T-Mobile Tuesdays app to their mobile device, verify an eligible phone number, save the offer, and redeem.
BLUETTI, a U.S.-Chinese renewable energy start-up, once again, created another miracle after their huge crowdfunding success with the cutting edge AC200 last year: their latest 5.1kWh home power station – the EP500/Pro – has pulled over $1 million in only an hour at kickstarter.com, and is now fast marching to the $2M milestone.
The new power stations feature a more elegant and minimalist look, a 12V 30A output port for the RV crowd, up to 3000W pure sine wave inverter and, yes, seamless UPS. But the price tag of these typically premium home battery products may be more important than ever.
Starts at only $2799 for the EP500($0.55 per watt hour), makes the EP500 series extremely competitive even against the giants like Tesla’s Powerwall or Sonnencore. Yet, most importantly, unlike the Powerwall or Sonnen, BLUETTI EP500 family is plug-and-play and way more versatile. Not only it will work as a home backup power station, you can also shove it in the trunk of your car for a road trip or van life.
The first time ever, BLUETTI offered the remote control feature on their EP500 Series. With BLUETTIs exclusive B-Lynk connection technology, you can easily monitor your EP500/Pro’s status and adjust settings it whether it is near you or a thousand miles away(WAN & LAN). No more having to walk to a unit to determine remaining battery or inverter capacity.
With BLUETTIs exclusive B-Lynk connection technology, you can easily monitor your EP500’s status and adjust settings it whether it is near you or a thousand miles away. No more having to walk to a unit to determine remaining battery or inverter capacity.
If the 5.1kWh/3kW specs aren’t enough to cover your needs, feel free to get two of these and connect them together with BLUETTI’s Fusion Box. You can immediately double the capacity, voltage and power, that’s MASSIVE 10.2kWh and up to 6kW output at 240V, which means not only for the vital needs, you can also run your home air conditioner, clothes dryer, in-wall electric heater and other high power appliances totally off-grid with ease.
As for the most important part about crowdfunding projects – delivery and warranty – BLUETTI said they will DELIVER the EP500 in August(start shipping in late May), and the Pro will be DELIVERED two months later, in October. Since Kickstarter won’t charge your card until the crowdfunding campaign reaches its deadline, you only need to wait about 3 months after you finished the payment for the EP500, which is pretty impressive since even giants like Tesla would have to put you on the waiting list for about 4 months before the install.
After backing the crowdfunding project, you’ll get a 3-year warranty out of the box, and by paying additional $699, you can enjoy 5 years of peace in mind.
This year could be the time BLUETTI breaks through. With the groundbreaking features of EP500 family, BLUETTI has obviously widened the gap with its early competitors, and stepped into a higher stage to compete against the Goliaths like Tesla and LG Chem. We’ll see.
Master & Dynamic is back with a new pair of truly wireless earbuds as the premium audio brand debuts the MW08 with a March 30 availability.
Priced $299, the earbuds bear the familiar design of its predecessor, the MW07 Plus; however, they’re constructed from a more premium set of materials. Indeed, the new model are comprised of ceramic with an aluminum band for the antenna.
The new model has a more polished appearance that better aligns with the overall aesthetic of the brand. Master & Dynamic is a known for its materials which often include leather, aluminum, and other high-end textures. Notably absent in the MW08’s design, too, are the wing that helped keep the earbuds in place.
The on-board controls are still present, with a multi-function button on the right play/pause, track control, pairing, and Voice Assistant. The left earbud houses the volume rocker and controls ambient sound and ANC.
New for the MW08 is a third microphone on each earbud for what Master & Dynamic touts as “superior wind reduction” that keeps calls clear. Lastly, the earbuds are IPX5 rated water resistant and can withstand sweat as well.
The earbuds come with a stainless steel charging case that opens slightly different from its predecessor. The USB-C jack has been relocated to the right side.
The MW08 offer hybrid active noise cancellation with ANC Max and All Day ANC modes. Moreover, it also offers a pair of ambient sound modes, Voice and Awareness. Master & Dynamic employ a slightly larger 11mm Beryllium driver; the MW07 Plus were 10mm.
Also making its debut is a new M&D Connect app that displays battery levels and gives users control over ANC and ambient sound modes and other settings.
According to Master & Dynamic, the MW08 can last up to 12 hours on a charge with an additional 30 hours of listening time via the included charging case. A quick-charge yields 50 percent battery life in 15 minutes while a full charge can take 45 minutes.
The MW08 will be available in black, white, blue and brown colors starting March 30 for $299. These replace the MW07 Plus which will be dropped to $249 upon their arrival.
Poco this week introduced another hard-to-beat value proposition with its latest handset, the X3 Pro. Priced as low as $300, it boasts a new Qualcomm processor and features an impressive, large display.
The X3 Pro has a 6.67-inch LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate. This means gaming graphics will appear as smooth as silk with players getting truly accurate screen tapping.
Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 processor; this marks the first phone to offer the chipset. As the third new 800 series processor from the OEM in 2021, it’s the most robust 4G-ready one yet. Indeed, this is not a 5G phone, and that’s likely what helps contribute to the low price.
Digging deeper, the chipset has a 2.96GHz clock speed and an Adreno 640 GPU, putting it technically it closer to the Snapdragon 855 (2019) than its latest stuff.
As for cameras, the Poco X3 Pro offers up a 48-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, 2-megapixel depth camera, and 2-megapixel macro sensor. In terms of shooting modes, the phone has Ultra-wide Night, Dual Video, video cloning, and long exposures.
Around front is a 20-megapixel selfie shooter centered in the upper edge of the display via punch-hole. It features Night mode and supports AI facial unlocking.
Wrapping things up, the Poco X3 Pro houses a generous 5,160mAh battery with 33W fast charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, side-mounted fingerprint sensor/power button, NFC, USB-C, and Bluetooth 5.0. The whole thing is held together with Android 11-based version of MIUI 12.
Availability
The Poco X3 Pro will be offered in Phantom Black, Frost Blue, and Metal Bronze colors with pricing as low as $296 (6GB RAM with 128GB storage). The 8GB RAM/256GB variant runs about $356. Look for it starting March 24.
We have a Poco X3 Pro on hand and are putting it through its paces. Check back soon for our review.
Today, children are getting cell phones at younger ages than in the past. But why? The primary reasons are of course needing one to communicate with parents and because other kids in their school grade have them as well.
However, phone use, including Android devices, can expose children to various dangers in the digital world. This includes the fact that kids who just got their first cell phone don’t know how to properly use it yet.
That is why parents need to learn how to spy on their child’s Android phone activities. To understand, follow the steps below to properly spy on an Android phone, including using a third-party cell phone spy app.
Step 1: Answer – Why Do You Need To Spy On Their Android Device?
To start with, you need to understand what your motivations are for tracking your child’s phone. The most common reasons parents do this include:
Protecting their child from online dangers including hackers, catfishers, predators, and cyberbullies.
Knowing what their children are up to on their phone.
Ensuring their child is properly using their device.
Making sure they do not view anything inappropriate, explicit, or violent while browsing online, using social media, and other applications.
Knowing their child’s GPS location at all times.
Tracking down their phone in case it is lost or stolen.
Step 2: Know What Type of Phone They Have
When searching for Android spy apps and other tools and features, you will need to know as much about your child’s phone as possible. This includes the phone’s manufacturer, model, the type of operating system it runs on, and the IMEI number. By knowing this, you will have a much better understanding of what parental controls, privacy, security, and app restriction features are available to you and your child.
Step 3: Evaluate Your Spy App and Parental Control Options
Now that you know what type of phone, your child has, you should make a list of the phone’s useful features and what you are looking for in a spy software program. Ensure that between all of the available options, you can easily monitor and control every aspect of your child’s device use.
Besides hidden spy apps, there are other useful tools that can help ensure phone safety, including Google SafeSearch and Google Family Link.
Step 4: Purchase & Install An Android Cell Phone Spy and Monitoring App
With your options laid out, it is time to purchase and install an Android cell phone spy and tracking app. When deciding which spy app for Android to purchase, always consider the following:
Features You Need: These apps often allow users to monitor text messages, phone call logs, web browser history, social media messages, device GPS location, and more.
Budget: What are you willing to spend on a spy application? Usually, these apps require a one-time or monthly payment.
Compatibility: Ensure the spy app will work on the target device.
Customer Reviews: Always see how other people liked or disliked the app to ensure it’s worth purchasing.
Customer Support: If they have a customer support number, call it to see if a live person answers and if they are helpful.
Usability: Determine if it will be easy for you to use the app and view the retrieved data.
After selecting the best product for you, install it on your child’s phone. Most Android spy apps only take a few minutes to do so. Usually, access to the physical phone will be required, but rooting the device should not be necessary.
Step 5: View Your Child’s Cell Phone Activities
With steps 1 – 4 complete, you can now monitor and restrict your child’s phone use. Make sure to inform your child that you are spying on their device so you don’t lose their trust. Also, when accessing their information, always do so from a secure device connected to a private Wi-Fi network. You don’t want to accidentally expose your child’s data to hackers!
By following all of these steps, you will be ready to spy on your child’s Android device. Remember not to abuse your power while overseeing your child’s phone use. Being too controlling could lead to a disconnect between you and your child. Try and find a nice balance between monitoring their phone activities and giving them privacy and freedom.
As part of its 2021 product unveiling OnePlus today announced its first foray into the world of wearables. Dubbed the OnePlus Watch, it’s the brand’s latest attempt to offer a seamless experience to users by way of its own portfolio of “best-in-class products”.
The OnePlus Watch aims to deliver a stylish design with smart fitness tracking and incredibly long battery life. Its round design calls to mind a traditional watch; the 46 mm case is crafted from quality stainless steel and features 2.5D curved glass on the face with a muted glossy CD pattern on the display bezel.
The OnePlus Watch has 4GB of storage with about half of that available to users. For context that comes out to about 500 songs. Compatible with most Bluetooth earbuds, it can provide music on the go without any wires.
The OnePlus Watch promises up to a week’s worth of battery life for the “most active” users with double that for a generally sustainable use. According to OnePlus, it can pick up a week’s worth of power after just 20 minutes on the charger. Five minutes is all that it takes to get a full day’s worth of battery.
The OnePlus Watch features 5ATM + IP68 water and dust resistance and is designed to be worn at all times. With built-in support for tracking more than 110 workout types, it can automatically detect jogging and running.
The watch will track metrics such as pulse, distance, calories, speed monitoring and SWOLF efficiency for swimmers. It comes with built-in GPS and can keep an accurate eye on your activity, even if your phone is back at the office.
The OnePlus offers blood oxygen saturation monitoring, stress detection, breathing training, rapid heart rate alerts and sedentary reminders, all of which can be managed with the OnePlus Health app.
Availability
The OnePlus Watch will be available for as low as $159 when it goes on sale April 14. Look for it in Midnight Black.
OnePlus on Tuesday announced its 2021 flagship handsets, the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. Available starting from April 2, the phones are priced as low as $729 and $969, respectively.
Both phone feature the Hasselblad Camera for Mobile tech which promises more accurate and natural colors in photos. Moreover, they have a Hasselblad Pro Mode which lets picture takers capture 12-bit RAW content for post-processing. As we recently learned, the phone maker and camera giant have established a three-year partnership which will ultimately transition to phone sensors and optics.
The two phones run Android 11 with OnePlus’s custom touches. Known as OxygenOS, it’s largely centered around extra customization and user-defined features.
OnePlus 9
The OnePlus 9 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor with sub-6 GHz 5G support, and comes with 8GB/12GB memory options. Storage is pegged at 128GB and 256GB.
Digging deeper for a moment, the memory is LPDDR5 RAM and the internal storage is UFS 3.1, which means incredibly fast and buttery smooth performance. It’s nothing but top-tier stuff for OnePlus.
The display is a 6.55-inch FHD+ screen with 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ tech, so games will look incredible. A 4,500mAh battery is tucked inside with support for up to 65T fast charging and 15W wireless charging.
The brightness of the OnePlus 9’s display can go up to 1,100 nits with HDR10+ certification, to improve your experience when watching HDR videos. It is equipped with two ambient light sensors with 8,192 levels of brightness for smoother automatic brightness control. Comfort Tone also adjusts the color temperature of the display to match your environment for a more comfortable reading experience.
For cameras, the OnePlus 9 packs a main 48-megapixel shooter which can capture 8K video. The wide-angle camera comes in at 50-megapixels and features a “Freeform” lens that reduces edge distortion and that slight curve that plagues such shots.
That wide angle camera pulls double duty as a macro camera while the monochrome camera handles detailed and layered black and white photos.
Other specifications worth bragging about include a front-facing 16-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi 6 support, Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, stereo speakers, NFC, and an in-display fingerprint reader.
Available in Winter Mist (purple) and Astral Black, the OnePlus 9 is constructed from fiberglass-reinforced polymer.
OnePlus 9 Pro
The OnePlus 9 Pro takes everything in the standard model and tweaks it in a number of areas. It starts with its overall design, which is built from aluminum and offers IP68 water resistance.
Slightly larger at 6.7-inches, the display is also upgraded to a QHD+ resolution and features a “Fluid Display 2.0” technology. Low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) technology, which OnePlus says is the “most advanced backplane technology” used in high-end OLED screens will automatically adjust the refresh rate from 120Hz down to 1Hz, depending on the need, ensuring maximum battery life.
As for its cameras, the main 48-megapixel sensor is a custom-designed IMX789 sensor, co-developed with Sony, and features optical image stabilization (OIS). The 50-megapixel wide camera is also present, however an 8-megapixel 3.3x telephoto camera has been added and also offers OIS. The 9 Pro also features laser focusing and an extra microphone for audio zoom when shooting video.
Rounding things out, the OnePlus 9 Pro supports mmWave 5G and up to 50W fast wireless charging. The OnePlus 9 Pro be available in glossy Morning Mist (Silver) and matte Pine Green.
Availability
T-Mobile will offer the OnePlus 9 in the 8GB/128GB version in both colors, and the OnePlus 9 Pro 12GB /256 GB version in Morning Mist (Silver). Both phones are compatible with Verizon’s 4G network; OnePlus is hoping to secure 5G certification with the carrier.
Pre-orders for the phones start March 26 with full availability on April 2 from oneplus.com, T-Mobile, Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H.
The EP500 is designed to cover your essential needs during power outages, EP500 is equipped with a monstrous 2000Watt pure sine wave AC inverter and surge up to to 4800W, and the Pro version can provide a continuous power at 3000W. Both are packed with 5100Wh, based on ultra-durable and safe LiFePO4 battery cells with a cycle life of up to 6000 cycles.
Introduction
BLUETTI is aimed to take the energy storage world by surprise with the release of its first home energy storage system series – the EP500 & EP500 Pro. Compared to existing giants like the Powerwall or SonnenCore, the EP500 series had a much smaller 5.1kWh capacity. But with the four smooth-rolling transport wheels, the EP500 is not meant to be a large solar battery mounted on the wall or garage. The BLUETTI EP500 is designed to be a “No Installation Needed”, plug and play powerhouse that can easily be moved to the desired location whenever needed.
Key things to know about the BLUETTI EP500 & EP500 Pro:
Specs
The EP500 is designed to cover your essential needs during power outages, EP500 is equipped with a monstrous 2000Watt pure sine wave AC inverter and surge up to to 4800W, and the Pro version can provide a continuous power at 3000W. Both of them are packed with 5100Wh, based on ultra-durable and safe LiFePO4 battery cells (up to 6,000 charge cycles).
Blazing Fast Charging
The BLUETTI team is dedicated to building an eco-friendly future with renewable energy. Antique gasoline generators, which produce toxic fumes pollution, unbearable noise and consume irreproducible petroleum resources are a thing of the past.
The EP500 is equipped with an advanced MPPT solar inverter. Up to 1200W (2400W for the pro) solar input can charge the 5.1kWh battery pack from 0 to full in less than 5 hours (2.5Hrs for the pro). With BLUETTI’s latest 200W portable solar panel – SP200 you can harness the solar power anywhere you want, at full speed.
Last but not least, the Bluetti EP500 series can also be charged from solar and AC simultaneously, handling up to 1800W (4000W for the pro version) and charging the battery pack at lightning speed.
Size & Weight
The unit is about 180lbs and is just about the size as a normal household air purifier, the EP500 series still can be moved around easily with the help of 4 smooth-rolling wheels.
Compared to the mounted backup power systems like the Tesla Powerwall and LG Chem RESU, the BLUETTI EP500 series features incredible mobility and are even possible to be packed for a road trip.
24/7 Seamless UPS & WiFi Remote Control
An uninterrupted power source (UPS) is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to essential loads when the grid goes down. EP500 & EP500 Pro is the key to provide continuous power and to help you get through power outages at ease.
With the BLUETTI EP500, you will never have to face the panic when the power outage occurs, all your data on the computer will be well preserved, your food in the refrigerator will stay cold, and all the lights you need will stay on.
The UPS functions on EP500 series are plug-and-play, all you need to do is connect it to the wall outlets and turn on the UPS Mode. Yet, you can also have much more power by integrating the unit to your home circuit with BLUETTI Home Integration Kit.
To monitor and operate remotely, the BLUETTI EP500 series now supports remote App With their exclusive B-Lynk connection technology, you can easily monitor your EP500’s status and adjust settings whether it is near you or a thousand miles away. No more having to walk to a unit to determine remaining battery or inverter capacity.
Split Phase Bonding
The rated AC inverter output power of 2000/3000 continuous watts is pretty high, but certainly not enough to power all of your electrical appliances. As an emergency energy storage power for the whole family, Bluetti has an option to double the AC output. For higher power loads, Bluetti is releasing its own “Split Phase Box” with which users can connect two EP500/Pro’s in series, and double the rated power output and capacity. The box will also offer the option of 220/240 volt output to power 240 volt appliances, which means you can now run your home air conditioner, clothes dryer, in-wall Electric Heater and other high power appliances with ease. No need to worry about power outages on hot summer nights or cold, bitter winters anymore.
Delivery & Warranty
The Bluetti team promised to start shipping EP500 in June and EP500 Pro in August, not a short time to deliver, but according to the feedback from their backers in the AC200 campaign, this definitely will be worth waiting for.
To make up for the customer’s long wait, BLUETTI provides a 3-year warranty and lifetime tech support for EP500 & EP500 Pro for their crowdfunding backers. Besides, you can also pay for the extended one-year warranty for $399 or $699 for two, which makes the total warranty time to 5 years top.
The starting price for one EP500 (super early bird perk) is at groundbreaking $2,799 ($0.55/Wh, 30% OFF), and you can save extra $100 by ordering two for $5,399 (31% OFF), that almost 80% the capacity of a Tesla Powerwall2 and at only half the cost.
