Google Glass To Be A Success?

According to CNET, Google has completely sold out of their entire stock of Google Glass.

Now let me remind you that these nifty marvels of technology are not cheap what so ever. Going for $1,500 a piece, Google has definitely made a pretty penny in just one day. Now whether the people that bought them just have the extra cash laying around and decided to pick one up, or have been saving up, waiting for the day Google opens their doors to buy Glass is unknown.

I bring that up because I personally, an average consumer that is effected by the economy just like many of you (hopefully) reading this. $1,500 seems a bit pricey for the average consumer for a GPS with a heads up display or (HUD) and a camera running Android 4.4 KitKat. It is basically a phone you wear on your face. I could be missing a few things and, you're more than welcome to mention them in the comments.

Were you the one of the lucky ones that had the cash to pick one up? Let me know in the comments.

Source: CNET

App Of The Day - Carbon For Twitter

Once a day, I am going to go through the Play Store and review an app. Photo apps, social network apps, maybe a game or two, (I'm not much for gaming on my phone).

Today I'm going over a slightly older app that is for Twitter that I think needs to be re-introduced. 

Carbon for Twitter on Android, designed by Dots&Lines and if you haven't noticed by my previous posts, I am a sucker for a well designed app. For me a design is what is going to catch your attention before anything else. Now that's not to say I don't like a well functioning app as well and, Carbon for Twitter gives both a great design and functionality. In-app browsers seem to be all the rage when it comes to Twitter apps.

Tapping a tweet will bring up your options to reply, quote, retweet, favorite, share, and view conversation and makes any links or hashtags clickable. The "Tweet button" is just a floating plus sign next to your profile picture in the bottom right hand corner. If you tap on your profile picture, you are presented with your favorites, your lists, retweets of your tweets, your profile, settings, mute, search, and trending topics. All nicely done and out of the way.

Swiping right to left brings you to your mentions and other swipe brings you to your direct messages. With simple animations Carbon is fast, smooth, and dare I say elegant? If you have a device with on screen buttons like a Nexus 5 or a more recent Motorola device like the Moto X/G then your on screen buttons and status bar icons fade away giving you an even more elegant look and feel and a a pull to refresh with a Star Wars like animation.

Below are some screenshots of the app. 

As far as I know, the developer has not released anything for iOS and this only on Android. Thanks for reading! Share if you liked it!

Google Camera, More To Come

The amazing staff over at Android Police have taken the new Google Camera and broke it down and revealed more "dead code" within the app.

This means there are more features within the app that Google has not yet activated. It's safe to say that some pretty cool things are to come in the near future. So without further ado, the list of features that are to come, most likely after Google's I/O convention.

• Photo Sphere Live Wallpaper

         My guess would be after taking a photo sphere, you would be able to set it as a wallpaper (assuming you take one that isn't disrupted).

• Advanced Camera, Time Laps, Wide Angle mode.

• Video Effects

           The ability to take pictures while recording was removed but the string of code was left in there
           to be activated later I'm guessing.

• Bits and Pieces 

          Enables a flashlight.

For the full story check out Android Police
         
      

Google I/O Can't Come Soon Enough

I know everyone is thinking June 25th cannot come sooner!

Google plans to release their new Hera design for their apps and possibly their icons. In the past few weeks there has been a few leaks of the new Gmail and Calendar apps with the Hera design, and just today, images of the new Google+ app leak following the same design.

It would seem the folks in Mountain View, CA are going full force with this "new" flat design. I guess the well received response from the users of both Apple's iOS and Samsung's TouchWiz flat UI has given Google the push to re-imagine their own look to Android and it's Google services.

The fine people over at Android Headlines haven gotten their hands on the leaked images of the new Google+ design and I have to say I am really liking the new direction Google is taking Android. We all know at I/O will showcase just about all of what is in store for Android in the coming months when the new version of Android is released. The best part about all of this is, you don't need to be on the latest version of the OS to enjoy these new redesigned apps. I would assume you would need to be on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at the very least but, don't take my word for it.

Below is the leaked images of Google+, Gmail, and the new Calendar apps.

Google+ Source: Google+ Redesign

[UPDATE] Google Camera Released To Play Store

Bringing a nice refreshed look and easier navigation within the app, and improved the shutter speed (from my experience) photo sphere and lens blur. For those who forget to turn the phone while recording a video, Google now reminds you upon selecting the video option to rotate the device to landscape.

My only complaint is that I feel there is too much wasted space. On the button where the shutter button sits there is a thick black bar surrounding it, where as in the previous camera app there was just the shutter button. I personally think they should do away with the button all together since you can use the volume buttons to snap a picture.

Camera still uses the Google Photos app if you swipe left from the right edge if you're a Nexus user, it could be different on other devices, let me know if I'm wrong. Unfortunately there was no redesign to native gallery app found on the Nexus devices, and the reasoning is most likely because, Google is pretty focused on Google Photos to access all your pictures and videos and, it's the only place you can view your auto awesome pictures. Maybe there will be a update to the Google Photos app that organizes the pictures better.

I do like that Google is releasing their stand alone apps on the Play Store so that everyone can enjoy their products, not just Nexus users. You also no longer have to wait for your carrier to send out the update, or wait until the .apk is ripped and shared.

Edit: This app only works with devices running Android 4.4+ KitKat.

Source: Android Google+ Post