HTC Nexus phones for the foreseeable future

The Nexus Project prides itself on bringing in some of the best phone manufacturers from around the world to create devices for Google's unique program – but 2016 may see that formula undergo a change.

A new report suggests instead of the yearly manufacturer switch on the Nexus program, the company will entrust HTC with it all for the next few years.

The rumor suggests HTC has signed a three year deal to produce all phones for the Nexus program. Last year Nexus revealed two phones for the very first time, and it's thought Google will do the same this year with different sized devices from HTC.

Last year Huawei took on duties to create the phablet Nexus 6P, while the smaller Nexus 5X went to LG.

Taking it all on

The deal doesn't mention tablets – something Google has shied away from recently – which could mean the search giant is open to bringing in other OEM's to create new slates.
This deal is just hearsay at the moment, but if Google decides to give Nexus duties to HTC for the next three years it may turn out to be a bit of a shame. The last Nexus device made by HTC was the Nexus 9 tablet, which was released in 2014.
What is interesting about the Nexus project is the variety of handsets the program produces from year to year. Unlike manufacturers such as Samsung and Apple, we don't see iterative upgrades each year as each manufacturer takes Google's brief differently.
It may be a bit of a shame to see HTC take on all the duties in the end, but if the company makes some good phones it may be worth Google's risk.

7 things we’ve learned about Project Fi, From “Hi” to Fi to “Goodbye” to invites

We introduced Project Fi Roughly 10 months ago - a program to explore new ideas in wireless connectivity. Similar to our Nexus hardware program, Project Fi works in partnership with leading carriers and hardware makers to push the boundaries of what's possible. By designing across hardware, software, and connectivity, we’re able to explore new ways for people to connect and communicate.

With Project Fi, we deliver fast wireless service with the flexibility to use it where you want (even internationally) and a monthly bill that’s simple and easy to understand. Over the past 10 months, we’ve learned a lot about how people use Project Fi and wanted to share a few of these insights with you!

1) Project Fi customers love to travel

With Project Fi, being away from home doesn’t mean that you have to be away from your cellular data. Since launch, more than 15% of our customers have used Project Fi abroad. From Mexico to Montenegro, customers have visited 110 of our 120+ supported countries all while paying the same rate for data that they would in the U.S.

2) There’s lots of high quality public Wi-Fi

We believe that using Wi-Fi should be seamless which is why we created Wi-Fi Assistant - a tool that automatically connects to high-quality hotspots and helps secure your connection. Over 50% of Project Fi customers are connecting to public hotspots using Wi-Fi Assistant on a weekly basis.

3) People like data on their data

When it comes to data, people like to be in the know - especially when they get a refund for what they don’t use. So, we built tools into our app to help customers understand and track their usage throughout the month. Roughly 90% of people who visit the Project Fi app are coming to check out how much data they’ve used. How much data are they using? An average of 1.6 GB data per month.

4) Connectivity isn’t just for phones 

We launched data-only SIMs in December to help Project Fi subscribers connect to data from devices other than their phones with no additional fees or restrictions. Since then, we’ve seen SIMs used everywhere from tablets to cars. While we’re just starting to experiment here, one thing is already clear: people want access to data on more devices.

5) Project Fi customers like getting support from a real person

We never want something to go wrong, but when it does, it should be easy to get in touch to fix the problem quickly. While Project Fi has 24/7 customer support through phone, chat, and email, we’ve found that phone calls are still the most popular way that customers like to get in touch with us. When Project Fi customers call in, they are speaking to a real live person in 20 seconds or less 95% of the time.

6) Project Fi customers are creative

Three creations from our Fi customers

To spread some holiday cheer last December, we sent out building blocks to Project Fi customers to help them organize their phones and cables. As you can see from the photos above, customers built creations ranging from the useful to the extravagant.

7) We all want to skip the line

We launched Project Fi as an invitation-only Early Access program to make sure we could deliver the best quality of service to our first customers. Today, we’re excited to be exiting our invitation-only mode and opening up Project Fi so that people across the U.S. can now sign up for service without having to wait in-line for an invite.

We’d like to say ‘thank you’ to all our Project Fi customers for providing insights and feedback over the past 10 months. While Project Fi is still in its early stages, we’re excited to welcome our next wave of customers and look forward to growing and improving together.

P.S. To help make saying “Hi” to Project Fi a little easier, we’ll be offering the Nexus 5X starting at $199 for the next month when you buy and activate through Project Fi.

Posted by Simon Arscott, Product Manager, Project Fi

Game Dragon Land Is a Gorgeous New 3D Platformer Download Now For Your Smartphone

Social Point, the hit studio behind Dragon City, has just released Dragon Land, a gorgeous new 3D platformer on iOS and Android.

In Dragon Land, you play as a dragon whose friends have been captured by the evil Borg, and it’s up to you to set off on an epic adventure to rescue them.

And that’s exactly what you’ll do over the course of the game’s hundred or so levels, which challenge you to run, jump, defeat enemies, and collect items like coins, crystals, and secret keys in a variety of beautiful 3D environments.
Complete an episode and you’ll rescue a dragon friend which you can then play as in any of the levels. All dragons have their own unique abilities like gliding or climbing walls, and they can be essential for completing later levels.

If you don’t have enough time to complete a whole level, you can play quick play mode instead which offers a faster-paced adventure. Here you’re challenged to collect as many coins as possible while being chased by a ghost, and earn rewards based on how many you manage to collect.

There’s also a multiplayer tournament which pits you against three other dragons in a race through a level, and you can use all of your dragon’s abilities to try and stop them. It’s a ranked mode and you’ll earn more rewards the higher up you rank.

If Dragon Land sounds right up your alley, you can get it right now for free

download

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.
The post Game Dragon Land Is a Gorgeous New 3D Platformer out Now on Mobile appeared first on Gamezebo.

Best New iPhone Games in This Year You Need to Play

It’s a strange week on the App Store. Retro City Rampage DX makes its debut even though we hadn’t heard a peep about a mobile port. The makers of the brutally challenging Titan Souls have made a paint-based mobile puzzler. And for some reason, an Android needs to pass a citizenship test.

It’s a weird week to be sure — but it also has the potential to be a really fun one.

Retro City Rampage DX

A massive indie hit on just about every platform you can imagine, Retro City Rampage makes its suprise debut on mobile this week. If you haven’t played a previous incarnation, get ready for a fantastic trip down memory lane. While it looks (and plays) like a Grand Theft Auto game that might have appeared on the NES, you’ll find clever nods and gameplay homages to just about every great game from that era.

• Download ($4.99)

Telepaint

If you’re a desktop or console gamer, there’s a very good chance you’re familiar with the blisteringly difficult Titan Souls. Its creators have decided to take a step in a completely different direction, bringing a paint-heavy puzzler to the App Store.

• Download ($2.99)

Dream Machine: The Game

It looks like Monument Valley, and we expect it plays like Monument Valley. But if the biggest gripe to be said about Dream Machine is “it’s more of what you already love,” it would be a poor choice to leave off of this week’s roundup.

• Download ($0.99)

Pilots of the Dawn

Vlambeer is a legend among indie gamemakers, but with the exception of Super Crate Box and Ridiculous Fishing, few of their games have made it to the App Store. Depending on how you view that situation, the arrival of the heavily-influenced-by-Luftrausers (but not developed by Vlambeer) Pilots of the Dawn will be reason for celebration (or derision).

• Download (free)

Legacy Quest

Nexon had a strong 2015 with games like DomiNations and Mabinogi Duel — and if Legacy Quest is as good as we’re hoping, 2016 should be off to a great start.  This time around they’re offering a voxel-style take on dungeon crawlers.

• Download (free)

Dungeon Monsters RPG

Free-to-play RPGs are all the rage on the App Store — but how many of them feel like a 1980’s desktop dungeon crawl?

• Download (free)

Able Black

A unique text-heavy adventure mixed with puzzles, Able Black is a non-traditional gamebook about an Android who needs to pass their citizenship exam if they want to continue operating.

• Download ($3.99)

Handbrake Valet

Street parking is nightmarish at the best of times — but do you think you could do it if you needed to spin into a spot using only your handbrake? And the movies make it look so easy.

• Download (free)

Barrier X

Fans of speedy mobile twitch games, Barrier X is your free download of the week. Avoid barriers, speed up, repeat.

• Download (free)

Dirac

Constellations have fascinated humans since the start of the species. Despite this, games about this stellar phenomenon are few and far between. Dirac remedies this oversight by giving players a chance to make their own in this game of puzzle line connections.

• Download ($1.99)

The post 10 New iPhone Games You Need to Play This Week appeared first on Gamezebo.

Announces from Apple 21 March event, likely for 4in iPhone and smaller iPad Pro

Byline 

Andrew Hayward

Apple event invite

The months of rumours and reports have all led to this: Apple has officially announced an event for 21 March, exactly as predicted last month. And we suspect much of the other building speculation will pan out, as well.

Apple just sent out invitations to the event to media organisations, with an image featuring the phrase, "Let us loop you in." The company's taglines sometimes tease the announcements to come, although this may simply refer to the location: Apple's headquarters, housed at One Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California.

Multiple reports pegged 21 March for the event late last month, and several reports have also suggested what we'll see then. First and foremost is the iPhone SE, a new 4in model that has also been called the iPhone 6c, iPhone 5se, and iPhone 5e prior to last month.

The iPhone SE is said to look like an iPhone 5s with newly rounded edges, but feature a lot of the tech that we've seen in newer handsets: the A9 and M9 co-processors and other chips from the iPhone 6s, for example, along with NFC for Apple Pay and support for Live Photos (albeit without a 3D Touch display). It's expected to replace the iPhone 5s as not only Apple's small phone, but also its entry-level one in terms of price point.

As predicted, Apple has something to show us in a couple weeks

Add to video view 

Reports also say to expect a new 9.7in iPad, since Apple opted not to release one last autumn, only it may carry a new name: the iPad Pro. Yes, like the super-sized one. Supposedly, this new model will have support for the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard devices, making it a more capable productivity and creation device, so Apple may shake up the branding as a result.

Lastly, we may see some new Apple Watch band options in the mix, although a proper new Apple Watch device isn't likely to debut until late this year. If you've been holding out for a smaller iPhone or an upgraded, standard-sized iPad, you should have good news coming in just a couple weeks. Stay tuned for more as it comes.

[Source: The Verge]

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Apple announces March 21 event for new iPhone, iPad

Apple has sent out invitations to a March 21 event, to be held at its campus in Cupertino, Calif.

The headliners of the event are expected to be a new 4-inch iPhone and new iPad. The iPhone may break from Apple's naming tradition and go by the moniker iPhone SE, though it's said to look like the iPhone 5S while having the innards of the iPhone 6S.

The iPad, meanwhile, is thought to be a smaller iPad Pro, coming in at 9.7 inches.

The invite is a simple gray, peach and pink affair, with the words "Let us loop you in" written on the bottom. This line is likely a reference to its Infinite Loop campus, but also suggests we might be in for some Apple Watch news.

New Apple Watch bands have been rumored, though it's possible Apple could reveal a new iteration of its wearable.

We'll bring you all the news live as it happens, so stay tuned for more.

Top image credit: Tim Bradshaw/Twitter

Rabbids Appisodes The Interactive TV Show, Price Drop!

Rabbids Appisodes: The Interactive TV Show 1.0.18 (Games)

Device: iOS Universal
Category: Games
Price: $2.99 -> Free, Version: 1.0.18 (iTunes)

Description:

Rabbids Appisodes: The kids’ hit animated TV show is NOW INTERACTIVE!


The game is available in: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese and Simplified Chinese.


For the first time, kids will be able to unleash the Rabbids’ silliness from their favorite hit TV Show: Rabbids Invasion


- DISCOVER 7 interactive appisodes based on the hit animated TV show Rabbids Invasion.
- WATCH, PLAY AND INTERACT with Rabbids in various mini-games. Tap to throw eggs, tilt your device to prevent Rabbids from falling down, swipe to hit them and scream the iconic BWAAAH!
-FIND hidden objects in each appisode to increase your scoring. Even amid the Rabbids mayhem, stay focused during the entire appisode!
- COLLECT stickers and unlock puzzle pieces to complete new hilarious wallpapers for your tablet
or smartphone. You can even customize them with your stickers!


Stay tuned for all the latest Rabbids news on:
FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/Rabbids
TWITTER https://twitter.com/RabbidsOfficial
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/Rabbids



PLEASE NOTE
-The app is optimized for iPhone 5 and higher with min supported iOS version 7.0.
- Also the app suffers from severe performance issues while in the Main Menu on low end devices: iPhone 4S, iPod 5th GEN, iPad Mini 1, iPad 2, iPad 3
- Please note that this app is not optimized for iPhone 4, iPod touch (4G).

What's New

- Rabbids Appisodes is now downloadable for free !
- We have also made a lot of improvements to let you play with the Rabbids in the best possible way.

Rabbids Appisodes: The Interactive TV Show