Androidifying

Welcome to the 202nd edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are your headlines for the last week: Google Play Music and YouTube Red may merge together into a single service. It seems only natural. You can subscribe to one and get the other free of charge. Merging them would just ensure that less confusion ensures when new users sign up. Lyor Cohen, Google’s head of music, stated that they’re evaluating how to bring the services altogether under one roof. We say they should do it. Pokemon Go’s Chicago event was a disaster . The game’s servers were unable to handle the number of attendees present. Thus, many were not able to log on and enjoy the event’s festivities. The CEO of Niantic received boos when he was on stage. It was a fiasco. In response, all attendees got a Lugia for free, $100 in PokeCoins, and a refund for the event. Fleksy had a busy week . They received new ownership. The app also received an update. The update fixed a few outstanding bugs. A company called Thinthing

From its mirror finish and solid build quality to its great audio and software experience, there is plenty to like about the HTC U11 . An upcoming software update unofficially announced through an FCC filing, however, revealed the phone will have another feather in its cap: Bluetooth 5. As our own Gary Sims eloquently puts it , today’s Bluetooth comes in two flavors: “Classic” and “Low Energy.” The former enables things like keyboards, mice, headsets, and speakers to communicate to other devices, while the latter, referred to as BLE, uses relatively less power and is designed for wearables and beacons. See also: How fast is Bluetooth 5 on the Galaxy S8? – Gary explains How fast is Bluetooth 5 on the Galaxy S8? – Gary explains June 8, 2017 Where Bluetooth 5, unveiled by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) around this time in 2016 , mostly comes in is in the boost to BLE’s range and data speeds. Thankfully, those performance increases do not lead to increa

One of the lesser appreciated features on an Android device is the IR blaster. It has a lot of uses. One of those is to control your TV. There are a variety of apps that are capable of it. However, there are also a ton of TV brands. That can make it hard to find a good pairing. Here, we round up the best TV remote apps for Android and at least one of these should work for you. Here are some more apps that might help control your TV!   15 best Chromecast apps for Android April 1, 2017   10 best Android TV apps August 15, 2016 Google Home Price: Free DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY Google Home is definitely among the best remote apps. Its primary function is to control Google Home and Google Chromecast devices. That means you'll need one of those to make this work. Otherwise, it's fairly simple. All you need to do is pick a show, movie, song, image, or whatever. You then cast it to your screen. It can't do things like change the channel. It also can'

Whatever you look for in headphones,  The FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds tick a lot of boxes. Temptingly, this week you can pick up a pair for just $29.95 . These high quality earbuds connect to your device via Bluetooth,  so if you’re out jogging there’s no risk of getting tangled in them. Of course this means that they’re battery powered, but with a 6 hour battery life they’re not going to die on you anytime soon. Speaking of jogging, these headphones are designed with such activities in mind. They’re secured in the ear  as well as being water and sweat resistant . You can also control music and sound from the headphones themselves, so you needn’t juggle your device on the run. There’s also a built in mic for those hands-free calls. Novelty, meet innovation. But the real kicker is that when you’re not using the earbuds they stick together magnetically . This isn’t just to keep them around your neck, though it does help of course. Pulling the buds apart automa

Poker is one of the most popular card games in the world. There are tons of variants and it’s easy to play. You can even toss a few bucks into the pot and bet on it. As you can probably imagine, there are tons of poker apps and games on Android. Some are good and many are not. Here are the best ones you can find on Android! Here are some more gambling, casino style games to try!   10 best gambling games for Android 2 weeks ago   10 best slots games for Android January 1, 2017 Appeak Price: Free with in-app purchases DOWNLOAD ON GOOGLE PLAY Appeak is one of the up and coming poker apps. It boasts over 100,000 active players, in-game challenges to keep things fun, and a simple UI that puts the game first. The game gives you 7000 free coins per day just in case you happen to run out. You'll be able to engage in sit-and-go tournaments and regular poker games if you want to. It's fairly simple overall. Additionally, it doesn't hit the pay-to-win ne