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5 Android apps for a cool smart home setup

AndroidGuys
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The smart home device market is one of the fastest growing markets today. An increased number of people are becoming aware of the usefulness of these devices. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a tech expert in order to get the most from these devices. In addition, they don’t represent some trendy products that will become useless in a few months. They can really make your life easier by turning your ordinary home into a cool smart home. The best way to understand what makes these devices so great is to check the top 5 apps for a cool smart home setup.

Samsung VR

Even though this application is focused on virtual reality, the fact is that it enhances your smart home experience too. Samsung has designed a VR headset that lets you explore many different worlds from your home. It’s worth mentioning that you can use it with Oculus compatible apps.

Mobcrush

Mobcrush is a very popular app used for live streaming. It is also a very lively gaming community. You can use it to watch exciting game play of some of the most popular games today. Simply stream your phone’s content on your Android-based TV to enjoy a brand new experience.

SmartThings

Now here’s an app that will turn your phone into a remote control that can manage different devices and sensors found in your home. In fact, you will get special sensors with the kit and you can place them wherever you want throughout your home. After that, you can use the app to control them.

DirecTV

This is a free app for Android and iOS devices. Thanks to DirecTV you can connect the TV and phone through the same Wi-Fi network and by saying certain commands aloud you will be able to record your favorite movies and TV shows. In addition, you can remotely transform your iPad into an efficient portable TV.

Alarm.com

Finally, you can use the Alarm.com app which is available for all popular operating systems. It has some great remote monitoring and controlling features – turning on (and off) the alarm in your home remotely, GEO services etc. For instance, you can let your home observe your location and adjust the temperature as you are getting closer.

We hope that you will find this list useful!

CBS Sports for Android (review)

Guest Blogger
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Overview

This sports app is a go-to source for MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and NCAA sports news, scores, and more. This one-stop sports app is available for all of your electronic devices, such as iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Besides offering a large amount of features, like lightning fast scores, stats, and news, CBS Sports also offers a wide variety of different games you can interact with and even receive weekly cash prizes.

How to Use

In order to get started, you can find the app in Google Play and iTunes Store for a free download. Once you have completed the download on any of your devices, you are ready to indulge in all of the amazing features the app offers.

The app has a great look and feel to it, and offers you the ability customize your feed to match your favorite teams. That being said, when you first launch the app, expect to look through and select each of your favorite teams by searching through each sport category. Once you have customized your feed, make sure to allow push notifications so that you can be alerted about updates, such as scores, upcoming games, and stats. After you completed those steps, you will advance to the homepage of the app where you can toggle between scores, news, and teams.

Key Features:

The app has a very friendly user-interface. You can easily navigate between sports, leagues, and teams. The ability to cater your news and notifications, to your personal preference is easily manageable by simply selecting what you want to see. At the bottom of the app, you will find three tabs: Scores, News, and My Teams. For each tab, it will show only the news you want to see, in order to add another team, you simply select add at the top of each tab.

Think of the My Team tab as your home base for your favorite team. If you want to see something regarding your team, whether it is news, standings, or stats you can simply go there for your one-stop feed. If you hit your side panel tab at the top left of the page, you can also check into live radio Ex. Tiki and Tierney. You will also find access to College Sports Live and the CBS Sports Network there.

  • CBS Sports Radio: Ability to live stream radio by simply pressing volume on or off to hear the latest gossip.
  • Chromecast Enabled: Option to cast CBS Sports on demand and live video to your TV, and control video playback and volume directly from the app.
  • Live Video: Get on-demand access to highlights, analysis, and original video programs.
  • News, Standings, and Schedules: Personalize teams news and tweets you wish to see. Standings for every league, including college rankings. All of your teams schedules are easily displayed in one platform.
  • Special Events: Access to a multitude of events, such as: NCAA March Madness, NBA Draft Day, PGA Tour, and more!

Conclusion

Overall, the app is very useful and clean-cut. There are not a lot of distractions, that being said there are some banner ads occasionally, but they no disrupt the usability and enjoyment of the app, which in most cases they do. The app is well organized and pretty straight forward. You can select what you want to see and about whom. Once you are done managing what you want to see, the app really does give a personalized touch and feel when navigating through the content. Besides for the apps main intended purpose, the extra features are entertaining depending on what you are into.

All in all, CBS Sports app is a reliable source for all your sports needs. CBS has a lot of Insider Information, which helps you stay up-to-date with what is going on around the world. I really enjoyed the look, feel and use of the app, i suggest downloading it for free on Google Play or iTunes Store.

(Op-Ed) Technology, a love affair

Matt Adams
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I love phones.

For me, the love affair started back in my seventh-grade year of middle school, circa 1999. All of my friends were getting prepaid phones from iWireless. And you know the phone, the old Nokia 6110 was my first phone. I spent so many hours at kiosks at the mall picking out new faceplates, antennas, and keypads. So many hours on snake, so many text messages. You younger folk won’t remember text messages when they weren’t threaded conversations. There were definitely some embarrassing moments when you mixed up who you were texting.

From that moment, I was hooked. I was hooked on technology as a whole, but mobile technology is was really at the core of my new found interest. It wasn’t enough to have the cool see-through blue pager or the Matrix-style faceplate for my phone, there was always the newest and coolest thing to get. I always wanted to have something to show my friends when we were walking down the hall between classes.

I know Kung Fu. Credit: http://cinevenger.com

Looking back now, the years feel like they flew so quickly. But, I guess that’s part of hindsight. What I remember from those years is my love of technology increasing exponentially. When the iPhone came out, I was sadly stuck on a Verizon family plan. I had to do the best I could to get an iPhone-clone. Every time I went into that store I was being sold on the next “iPhone killer”.

I wanted them all.

I got my first phone with a touchscreen and, man, did it ever suck. I honestly can’t even remember which phone it was, but after looking around a bit, I think it was the LG Dare. All I can remember about that phone was the touch screen bugging out damn near every time you touched it. My friends all had iPhones with APPS! I was stuck with that buggy piece of crap. I’m still not over it.

And that jealousy led to my iPhone phase. Let me tell you, I was the most obnoxious fanboy you could’ve found on the internet. There I was, defending Apple or Steve for anything and everything. Most of the time I felt like I was defending “my” company from those angry Android fanboys who had no idea what a good phone was. How could they possibly love anything made by LG, Samsung, or HTC? They didn’t hold a candle to anything designed in Cupertino.

Me, basically.

We’ve all gone through that phase, haven’t we? Maybe it didn’t revolve around tech, but we’ve all latched onto something and defended it to the grave even though you have no real ownership over it. I’m just thankful that Social Media didn’t really exist at the time so none of my foolishness is preserved to laugh at today.

Then it all changed for it. My friend Ryan convinced me to buy a Samsung Galaxy S Captivate second-hand. It came with some weird-ass beta custom ROM that Ryan and I must have spent 20 hours trying to get to work right, then giving up and spending another 20 hours to try and flash the stock ROM. I learned a lot about Android during that couple of days. I learned to respect the software you’re working with because it can very easily be broken beyond repair. I think we soft-bricked that thing a few times in the process of fixing it. But, it should tell you something that seven years later I vividly remember video chatting with my buddy up north so I could show him what was happening on my phone. Those were the good old days.

Samsung Galaxy S Captivate

I later moved onto a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, my first (okay, maybe second) true love in mobile technology. I owned almost every accessory, extended battery, case, or screen protector you could have for that phone. I flash every ROM at least twice. If that Captivate was that awkward teenager relationship where you’re nervous just to hold hands around anyone that might see, then the Galaxy Nexus was my first date, my first real relationship, my first time falling in love. I held the door open for that phone. I bought it dinner. I treated it right and it treated me right.

If I hadn’t loved Android before the Galaxy Nexus, my love was truly cemented then.

I’ve been through plenty of phones since. Too many to count and I stopped updating my records years ago because it just got tedious.

And like you do in long-term relationships, I got a little boring. I got a little complacent. I bought a phone, put my apps on it and went. Sometimes I’d install a launcher or an icon pack, but that’s as far as my customization really went. Maybe it’s a symptom of where I’m at my life. Time, not money, is now the most precious resource I have. Maybe it says a lot about how good Android has gotten in the years since I started using it. There are definitely reasons to continue to root your phone (and I love that the root community continues to be robust), but there’s nothing I can’t live without.

My Mount Rushmore of Smartphones (Volume 2)

This year I went out and bought a Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. It cost a lot of money and frankly, I could do without buying another phone, but I don’t regret the purchase. Something has been building in the Android community for years now and I think the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus represent a breakthrough of sorts. Everyone, Samsung, LG, HTC, Google, Motorola, have been chasing Apple for years now. And while many of them won’t admit it, Apple has driven the market and innovation since the first iPhone was released.

But, I think someone finally passed them. It started with the Moto Z last year and continued on with the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 this year. Apple has stagnated with three straight years of basically the same phone. Samsung, LG, and Motorola continue to reinvent themselves and Google finally gets in the hardware game. Don’t get me wrong, I still love iPhones. Hell, I still have that knee-jerk reaction to defend them when I see a dumb argument on Reddit, but Samsung and the S8 Plus excite me for the future of mobile technology now, not Apple.

I don’t know where mobile tech is going, but I do know I’m still as excited today as I was as that 13-year old boy sitting in my bedroom texting my friends for the first time.

This isn’t a love story about the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. I’ve shared my thoughts on the phone here and in other posts and will continue to do so, but this is a story about where my love for technology came from. Some see technology as cold and unfeeling, the unending march to newer and better. But, that’s not how I see it. Part of me is still that excited middle school kid, part of me is still the guy wondering what’s next and wishing there was one more thing.

This is just my journey. We all have our own stories to tell and I want to hear yours. Go on down to the comments and share… anything really. Tell us your story.

Google opens Instant Apps for all developers

Alexandra Arici
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You might remember Android Instant Apps from last year’s Google I/O, introduced as a new way to allow developers to create lightweight versions of Android apps that don’t require installation.

With Instant Apps, all a user needs to do is click a link in a web browser in order to be granted access to a certain part of an Android app. Back in January the first batch of Instant Apps including Buzzfeed, Periscope, Wish and Viki became available for testing purposes.

Now Google is making available the necessary tools for developers to start designing such apps. To make an Instant app, developers will need to create a modular platform compatible with deep links, so users can navigate to a particular section. Interested parties can check out the Android Developers website and download the Android Studio 3.0 preview and the Android Instant Apps SDK.

Instant Apps require Android 6.0 Marshmallow, although Google promised Android 5.0 support is coming soon.

Following Google’s announcement, one of the first Instant Apps to emerge is Triplt – a travel service that can now be accessed without users having to download the Triplt app on their phone.

Triptl can be used to organizes all travel plans in one place, so the Instant App could prove quite useful when making plans with a friend who doesn’t have Triptl on his/her smartphone.

Google also notes there are more than 50 new experiences available to try out form a variety of developers including HotPads, Jet, the New York Times, Vimeo and One Football.

What we learned about the Google Assistant at Google I/O 2017

Alexandra Arici
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One of the major topics, Google touched upon during its keynote was the Google Assistant, saying it’s taking steps to make the AI-driven helper more conversational.

The Assistant’s increased potential will soon allow users to have conversations about what they are seeing. Case in point, the service will be integrated with the new Google Lens tool and its built-in recognition technology. This way you’ll be able to get quick access to information about the things you see around you.

So far Google Assistant has been about easily accomplishing tasks by virtue of voice commands. But for cases when you’re in a public space and don’t want to disturb others or be heard, Google is now adding the option of typing in your request. The feature is already available.

Google is also making available the conversation history for Assistant available without the need to navigate to a Google account page. Users will merely need to scroll up to see what they’ve been asking before.

What’s more, Google said the Assistant will soon be able to understand and respond in French, German, Portuguese and Japanese. By this year’s end support for Italian, Spanish and Korean will also be added to the rooster.

Perhaps even more exciting is that the Google Assistant now lets users pay for stuff. The virtual helper works with the company’s own payment system and handles the ordering and payment process without dealing with third-party sites. Google made this possible through Actions on Google – which lets developer work inside the Assistant. Speaking of which, Google also said third party apps and actions created for Google Home will now be available with the Google Assistant.

Last but not least, Google officially announced the Assistant will now be available for iOS users. The company also revealed plans of bringing the AI-driven helper to its Android TV platform later this year, as well to its new Android in-car infotainment system.

Google I/O 2017: What is Android Go?

Alexandra Arici
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During this year’s keynote, Google didn’t say much about its Android One initiative, but that doesn’t mean it has forgotten about low-end devices.

The search giant unveiled Android Go, which can be viewed as a lightweight Android version meant to be installed on affordable phones running on 1GB of RAM or lower. With Android Go, Google hopes to be able to offer a decent mobile experience to customers shopping in the budget segment.

Android Go is basically an optimized version of Android O designed to accommodate the lower specifications and integrate apps that are less 10MB in size and can run smoothly even on devices with a slow processors. Some of Google’s first party apps will arrive on Android Go as lightweight versions carrying the “Go” moniker.

For example, instead of the full-fledged YouTube app, Android Go devices will get YouTube Go (which is currently in beta in India) – a version which allows users to see a preview of the video through a series of screenshots, as well as the exact amount of data consumed by a video and to download videos for later offline viewing. Features like Chrome’s Data Saver will come enabled on default on upcoming Go phones.

Android Go devices will also include a modified version of the Google Play Store which will highlight applications like Facebook Lite, Skype Lite or Line Camera that have been optimized to work on lower-end devices. Additional, the light-weight mobile operating system will come with Data Management and Savings settings feature in order to allow users to see exactly how much data they have left on their plan.

Android Go is part of Google’s ambitious goals of being able to offer better user experience for all Android users out there, not just for those shopping in the $600+ segment.

The Mountain View-based company said all devices with 1GB of RAM or less will get Android Go by default starting with Android O. Expect the first Go-equipped smartphones to arrive on the market in 2018.

Google I/O 2017: What is Google Lens?

Alexandra Arici
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Google continues to bet big on machine learning with a new AI-driven product called Google Lens.

The vision-based system will essentially allow your smartphone to understand what is going on in an image. Now if you point the camera at a flower, Google Lens will be able to tell you its exact name.

If you take a photo of a restaurant, Google Lens won’t offer redundant information like “it’s a restaurant”, but instead will pull up the name of the establishment, as well as display ratings, reviews or opening hours.

But wait it gets even better – users can point Google Lens to a router sticker and have it automatically connect to a network. No additional steps need to be taken. Maybe you see a poster of your favorite band around town, just hold up the Assistant, tap the Lens icon and buy tickets to the show right there on the spot.

The new tool will be making it out to Google Photos and the Google Assistant at first, but will eventually make it out on all Google products. It’s mostly likely going to arrive baked into Google’s camera app with the next-generation Pixel phones.

In Google Photos, activating Lens will allow users to see more details about what’s shown in the images.

Google’s new product sounds very similar to what Bixby can do on the Samsung Galaxy S8. Samsung virtual assistant uses the phone’s camera to take a photo and then offer suggestions of related products on Pinterest.

Speaking of which, Pinterest also has a feature also called Lens, designed to help users recognize objects in real time. But at this point, Google Lens seems to be the more advanced.

Google Lens builds on work previously done by Google with tools such as World Lens, which allowed users to hold up the camera to a foreign sign and get the translation, but also on Google Goggles, a service which delivers additional information about paintings, landmarks or barcodes. Expect Google Lens to launch later this year.

Grab the LG Stylo 3 at Cricket for $169.99 starting this Friday

Alexandra Arici
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If you’re on the market for an affordable phablet today, you might be able to find what you’re looking for at Cricket Wireless. The prepaid wireless service provider announced that starting Friday, May 19 customers will be able to purchase the LG Stylo 3 in rose gold for $169.99.

The LG Stylo 3 is a phablet coming in with a 5.7-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution and a 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 435 processor living on the inside. Despite being a lower-range affair, the device takes advantage of a fingerprint sensor located on the back, beneath the camera arrangement.

Cricket Wireless will sell the LG Stylo 3 with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 256GB. On the imaging front, the handset doesn’t offer anything too mind-blowing, but the 13-megapixel main camera and the 5-megapixel selfie shooter ensure users can capture the most important moments in their lives.

The phone also comes with 4G LTE and runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. We should also mention the phablet offers the services of a a stylus and a 3,200 mAh battery capable of supporting up to 25 hours of talk time.

Any takers?

Cricket also reminds customers, it has recently launched the ZTE Blade X Max.

App Highlight: Astro – AI Meets Email

Dan Bartram
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The App

Developed by Astro Technology, Astro: AI Meets Email is a new app from a new developer who believes there is room to declutter your inbox using artificial intelligence. Having been recently updated on May 11 to version 1.0.5, Astro is very much in its infancy but the developer is working to patch any bugs quickly. Astro is an intelligent, modern email app for Gmail and Office 365 with a chatbot that helps you declutter your inbox and focus on important messages.

What it does

Astro – AI Meets Email has all the modern features you’d expect to see in an email client, including Snooze, Unsubscribe, Send Later, Email Open & Reply Tracking all in a great design. What makes Astro different is the included Astrobot that will tell you what to unsubscribe from, what to archive, and who to make an VIP to help out declutter your inbox.

Astrobot organizes your inbox with a simple, natural language conversation that claims is the fastest way to inbox zero. Astrobot learns how you manage emails, and makes suggestions about messages that can skip your inbox. This helps to prioritize your inbox by making it smarter, putting the emails you want to see in front of you and removing those you don’t.

Why we like it

As someone that gets a ton of emails of which 90% I don’t need to see, the idea of having someone take care of that for me that is constantly learning is extremely appealing to get to inbox zero. Having the smarter inbox management features like email open/reply tracking, and snooze-to-desktop is a great way to make sure I pick up emails that I can deal with on the move but don’t forget about them. As a new app, Astro is extremely promising and I can’t wait to see what new features the developers keep adding as it will only get better.

How to get it

Astro: AI Meets Email is available for free from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.

What we learned from Google’s I/O 2017 keynote

Alexandra Arici
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Google I/O 2017 keynote just ended, leaving us with a ton of information to digest. And in case you missed the event for whatever reason, here are the most important topics touched on during the presentation:

Google Lens

One of the first new features introduced today is Google Lens – a tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in order to allow smartphone cameras understand what they are seeing.

For example, pointing the camera at a flower will provide users with its exact name via the Google Assistant. Alternatively, Google Lens in Photos will be able to identify buildings and locations and even show ratings (in case of restaurants or hotels). The new vision-based computing capability will first become available on Android, Photos and Assistant.

Google Assistant

Not so long ago the Google Assistant was exclusive to a handful of Google devices. But not anymore, as Google made the Assistant’s services available to the majority of Android phones with running Marshmallow or higher. Well during today’s event, the search giant said it’s expanding availability of the Assistant to iOS.

On top of that, it seems like the AI-driven virtual companion will finally allow users to manually enter queries via text, thus spearing us the grief of looking ridiculous in public.

The Google Assistant will also be able to recognize and respond in more languages including French, German, Portuguese, Brazilian and Japanese. Support for Italian, Spanish and Korean is coming towards the end of the year.

Another novelty is that Actions for Google will be expanded to iOS and Android. Actions – which allows users to interact with apps by speaking to the Google Assistant using a phrase like “OK Google, talk to…” – were thus far available on Google Home devices, but will soon work on your phone as well. Also of interest is that Google actions can now make payments via voice.

Google Home

Announced last year during the same keynote, the Google Home has gained a few nifty features. For starters, the voice-connected speaker now supports hands-free voice calling to any number in the US and Canada for free. And with the recently added multi-user support, the Google Home can distinguish between contact books based on the voice issuing the command.

Another interesting new feature to watch out for is Proactive Assistance. Google Home will be able to make smarter connections in order to share information proactively with you. If it sees you have an upcoming appointment, Google Home will light up to let you know you need to leave soon in order to be there on time.

Google Home does not have a screen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get visual responses to your queries, as users will soon be able to cast to a nearby Chromecast device.

Other changes on the way include Bluetooth support to allow Home owners to play audio from any device, as well as compatibility for Spotify, SoundCloud, Deezer and HBO Now.

What we learned about Google Home at Google I/O 2017

Google Photos

At Google I/O 2017 today, the company introduced Suggestive Sharing in Google Photos, a tool meant to improve sharing abilities within the app.

The goal is to bypass the tedious processes of manually selecting photographs and individual sharing them by allowing users to automatically share photos with assigned contacts, suggested by Google’s own advanced machine learning algorithms.

Another new feature arriving today in Google Photos is Shared Libraries. Once a user is granted permission to view a certain image category, that person will be able to receive future photographic updates right on their phone.

Android O

Like last year, Google did not announce after which sugary treat will this year’s Android version be called after. But it did tease some of its upcoming features.

We were told O focuses on two major themes – a fluid experience and vitals. The first one aims to provide a more seamless user experience. We were given the example of Picture-in-Picture which enables users to multitask and switch between apps seamlessly. The example given by Google is of a user watching a YouTube video, who by virtue of a simple tap on the home button can transfer the video into a small, always-on-top window which can be moved around freely.

Android O also aims to change how users experience notifications by introducing the so-called Notifications Dots. These are small badges that get automatically generated following the color gradient of the app’s icon. Users can either long press the app icon and view a small widget which shows them what the notification is all about or just pull down the notification shade.

It also seems that Google Chrome’s “autofill” feature will be ported to Android O. The tool can be employed to remember names, email, and addresses and automatically fill-in the blanks when it detects a registration screen.

Furthermore, Google talked about Smart Text Selection coming to Android O. Once again, deep machine learning algorithms will be employed to allow the system to figure out what a user is trying to select (based on Google’s own research most users try to copy-paste phone numbers, addresses or names). In Android O when a user tries to select an address or a name made up of two or more parts, the new tool will automatically highlight all of it – just double tap on it.

On top of teasing a few Android O upcoming feature, Google also talked about Android Vitals or security, stability, and battery life. Despite Android not having the reputation of a super secure OS, Google aims to change that with Android O by increasing applications security and malicious software monitoring. With this purpose in mind, Google introduced Google Play Protect, a tool which will scan your apps on a regular basis to ensure they are malware free.

What’s more, Android O is expected to add under-the-hood improvements for speedier booting time and application performance. Android O is also becoming stricter when it comes what resources apps use while running in the background. The end goal here is to extend battery life and cut down on overall memory usage.

Google also introduced the Play Console Dashboard, a new feature which will help developers better understand what’s causing battery drain, app instability or a slow UI. The tool displays statistics related to individual apps and displays the issues, as well as provide tips on how to solve the problem.

Android Go

Google didn’t talk about Android One during this keynote, but it doesn’t mean it has forgotten about entry-level handsets. The search giant actually unveiled a new initiative called Android Go, which aims to provide users of low-end handsets with a decent mobile experience.

Under Android Go, Android O will ship with optimizations for handsets featuring 1GB of RAM and less. As for the apps, they will come with new data saving options. We’re told YouTube will soon be offering a new YouTube Go version which will provide users with a series of screenshots, to help them decide whether they should watch it or not.

Lastly, a new version of the Play Store was announced, which highlights apps specially designed to conserve data and device resources. The first Go-powered devices are expected to start shipping from 2018 onwards.

VR

During the keynote, Google announced Daydream support is coming to a few new products including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ flagships later this year.

Google also mentioned an upcoming LG flagship will also receive Daydream treatment, and while no name was mentioned, we have to assume it was talking about the LG V30.

What was your favorite part of the keynote? Let us know down in the comments.

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