Hasta La Gadget!

The CyanogenMod team made switching from your phone’s original Android setup to its own flavor of the OS much easier with paired mobile and desktop installer apps, but now there’s one extra step. In a blog post, CyanogenMod states the Google Play Support team contacted it and claims the installer app is in violation of their TOS. This, despite CyanogenMod’s insistence that the app’s only purpose is to enable ADB on the device, then guide users through connecting it to the desktop app. Despite “hundreds of thousands” of installs for its alternative Android experience, the mobile app is still usable via sideloading, and its installation guide walks users through the necessary steps. Going forward, the CyanogenMod team is submitting its app to Samsung and Amazon’s alternative app stores, but interested Android users can download it right now.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Google

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CyanogenMod Blog

Google is looking to make the task for schools looking to cash in on Google Play for Education a bit easier with a bit of mobile software. The Google Edu Device Setup app (for Android, natch) allows administrators with a proper account to activate tablets purchased through school-themed store in bulk. Once the app is downloaded from the regular Play Store and the slates are activated, age appropriate settings — like disabling location sharing — can be configured and when complete, only the Education Store can be accessed. As you might expect, this tool only works with Nexus tablets procured through the proper scholastic portion of Google’s online shop.

Filed under: Tablets, Software, Google

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Via: SlashGear

Source: Google Play

In a country that has no shortage of vending machines, Google Japan has decided to join the fray. The company has announced three dedicated Google Play machines that will sell 18 different gaming titles which are a mix of free-to-play and paid-for titles. To use the machines, you’ll need a smartphone running Android 4.0 and NFC — and that’s about it. You rest the phone on the tray below the screen, and NFC pairing takes care of the rest. We put the machine to the test with our LG G2 on hand, and had no troubles choosing and downloading a free game through the machine. There’s a slick unified animation from the giant touchscreen (which looks almost identical to drinks machines elsewhere in the country) to your Android phone of choice when the download kicks in. Also, for trying out another Google app, you’ll get a ‘present’ which ‘drops’ down from the screen and into the vending tray once your download is complete.

Not an Android user? Don’t worry, because the vending machine will offer up a Nexus 4 for you to try out, although you do have to give it back, however. Several boiler-suited Google employees will man the machines when they’re switched on tomorrow in front of the Parco department store in Shibuya. For now, it looks to be a Japan-only promotion — but it’s another great excuse to hit up the country’s vending machines. %Gallery-slideshow99512%

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Gaming, Software, Mobile, Google

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Ardent old school Final Fantasy fans know: the mobile versions of classic FF games can be rather costly. Square Enix, the franchise’s publisher, is well aware of how much your nostalgia values the series, and Final Fantasy V is no different at $16. Perhaps you’ve already got the game on Super Nintendo and iOS, but needed another platform to try it out on? At very least, the mobile version has some fancy new graphics and a handful of added job types to help ease the pain of paying so, so much for a far from new game. Head below for a trailer of FFV for Android in action.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Mobile

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Source: Google Play

If there’s one thing to be learned from Apple’s mobile services, it’s that they’ll almost certainly never be supported on rival platforms. However, that doesn’t stop third-party developers from engineering their own techniques in order to break into Apple’s walled garden. A case in point: Android developer Daniel Zweigart, who recently launched a Google Play app called iMessage Chat, providing users of Google’s mobile OS with a way to communicate with iOS and Mac OS device owners via Apple’s proprietary messaging protocol. Some have reported problems getting the app to run, while others claim it works as advertised — and Zweigart has even gone to the trouble of emulating Apple’s old iOS 6 user interface to make them feel right at home. You might think that it sounds too good to be true, and you could be right.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Apple, Google

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Via: Jay Freeman (Google+), Adam Bell (Twitter)

Source: iMessage Chat (Google Play), iMessage on Android