Welcome to the 197th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are your headlines from this week:
Google announced some changes to Google Play this week. Starting June 30th, Android 2.1 and lower will no longer have Android Market support. This will have two immediately impacts. For starters, developers no longer need to support anything lower than Android 2.2. Secondly, those rocking wicked old phones will no longer have access to apps and games from Google. That’s only about 0.8% of Android phones. Still, it’s something Google doesn’t do very often.
Instagram revealed that Instagram Stories has more than 250 million daily users. That’s impressive in its own right. However, the bigger story is that it makes it bigger than Snapchat. In a rare sighting, the copycat has become more popular than the original. That puts Snapchat back in the role of the underdog. The company also announced that 700 million people actively use Instagram.
Google announced a new job search tool at Google I/O. It went live this week. Job seekers can simply ask Google for jobs near them. Google Search will then show them available jobs. Google can also deliver alerts for new jobs that matches job seeker requirements. It’s a bit basic right now. However, this is likely going to be one of the most popular tools for job seekers very soon.
The latest Humble Mobile Bundle is out! The theme for this one is rogue-like games. You can $1 and get three games, pay $5 and get six games, or pay the average and get every game in the bundle. Some of the titles include Road Not Taken, bit Dungeon I and II, and Heroes of Loot 2. The asking cost for all nine games is $40. That makes this a good deal. Plus, you’ll be helping charity!
SEGA announced a new game this week. The purpose is to bring a bunch of classic arcade games to Android. Sega Forever will include titles like Sonic, Phantasy Star II, Comix Zone, Altered Beast, and others. It’ll be free to download and play with ads. You can remove the ads with a $1.99 in-app purchase. Sega also promised to release more games for the service after its June 22nd launch. Many of the titles, including Sonic, Phantasy Star II, Kid Chameleon, and others are on Google Play.
We don't yet see the new features, despite being on the beta
Users can now share media files as a bundle, reports claim
WhatsApp call screen is said to have been refreshed as well
Last week, WhatsApp slowly started rolling out the ability to share files of any type, and now, users of the Android beta report that one new feature (media bundling) has been added alongside one aesthetic change (a new call screen).
As per a report by Android Police, WhatsApp beta for Android users are reporting seeing a change in the way photo bundles will be shown to the sender and recipient. WhatsApp users can send a bunch of photos to their friends, who will receive them as a bundle and not as before, one after another. The new feature refines the sharing of multiple photos on the platform. The feature also indicates that WhatsApp will give more room for shared photos.
The new update also brings minor change to the WhatsApp call screen where users will now have to swipe up instead of sideways to pick up a call.
Unfortunately, despite running the latest WhatsApp for Android beta, we don't see the above two features. Android Police reports that the ability to share any file type is slowly rolling out to stable users of the app, and notably, we haven't received that feature yet either.
To recall, last week, WhatsApp was reported to be rolling support for sharing of all types of files (including archives) on Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone with a limited number of users, removing any hindrance of file sharing on WhatsApp.
Nigerian born Singer, Songwriter & Recording Artiste "Dalvin" returns to the Music Scene with this Inspirational Tune "STAND TALL"
The Song "STAND TALL" which was actually written & composed by Dalvin just after His Rebranding in May, 2017 is said to be An Inspirational Soul Music with A Unique Feel to It.
"Stand Tall" is a Song born out of Dalvin's Desire to make His listeners realize themselves and know the Potentials they Possess. Also, His aim and purpose for composing the Song is geared towards passing A Message Of Hope to the world as He looks forward to Fulfilling His GOD GIVEN PURPOSE Here on earth.
Livingstone Etse Satekla popʋlarly known as Stonebwoys in the Dancehall scen mute on his wedding for days, Stonebwoy has made the first comment on his new status.
He posted a photo from his traditional marriage on Instagram and described his action as “what real men do”.
Stonebwoy married Dr. Louisa Ansong today at two seprate occasions. The first was a traditional wedding at the Tema family home of the bride.
A white wedding later followed at Trade Fair in Accra. The reggae/dancehall superstar also promised fans on Twitter that he will soon share professional photos from his blissful marriage, adding that the leaked photos don’t cut it! But now the bigger question is should we expect this frim the Africa Dancehall king Shata wale and The Gboza hitmaker Sarkodie?
Bootloops? Whatbootloops? LG would definitely like you to forget all about that messy affair from previous years. And it's willing to make things easier in this regard, at least in the US.
The company is now offering an additional year of warranty for the G6 stateside at no extra cost to you. All that's required is for G6 owners to register their devices at this website. And although this offer went live today, you qualify even if you've bought a G6 at some point in the past. Again, you just need to register.
After you've done that, the standard one year limited warranty will be extended to two years. You also receive "a service experience that gets you a replacement phone quickly". What does this mean exactly, you ask? Well, if the defective unit you send in is "confirmed as covered by the limited warranty", you'll have the replacement at your doorstep within two business days. And those are counted from when you shipped the defective device. Oh, and shipping both ways is covered by LG. The only caveat here is that you can't be sure if the new phone you receive as a replacement will be new or refurbished - it could be either
Instead of taking the summer off, or at least the early stages of the season, and risk going up against Samsung, Apple or Sony in August and September with a bunch of high-profile smartphone announcements, Lenovo may want to unveil its entire “unlimited” Moto-branded product roster by the end of this month.
Okay, perhaps the G5S and G5S Plus aren’t coming just yet, but the Z2 Play recently kicked off a jam-packed June for “Lenovorola”, followed by the E4 and E4 Plus yesterday, with an upper mid-range X4 and top-shelf Z2 likely right around the corner.
Yup, there’s something else cooking besides the anticipated June 21 Brazil introduction of the long overdue Moto X4, and Lenovo says to also save the June 27 date for a mysterious “update” bringing Motorola “back” to the limelight.
At least it’s supposed to be mysterious, because that pretty blonde girl pictured on the company’s latest event invitation is clearly holding a modular Z-series phone with a dual rear-facing camera. You know, like the Z2 Force rendered a while ago.
Of course, the “regular” Moto Z2 could sport a nice pair of “main” shooters as well, but this is definitely one or the other. Possibly both, though certain markets may only get the single version. Which are you more excited about?
Pushing last year’s Galaxy S7 Edge to third place, the Galaxy S8 Plus and Galaxy S8 are now ranked first and second respectively by Consumer Reports.It’s not an exaggeration to say that Samsung’s latest flagship phones – the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus – have been a huge success.Their pre-order numbers were unprecedented, and I personally haven’t seen a single negative review of the duo. Well, it looks like Consumer Reports is no exception – the testing publication’s most recent smartphone rankings only further corroborate the quality of Samsung’s latest flagship duo.
As of now, the top three spots are occupied by Samsung-made devices: Galaxy S8 Plus is currently the top smartphone in the market according to Consumer Reports, followed by its smaller sibling Galaxy S8 and last year’s curved flagship Galaxy S7 Edge. The LG G6 is ranked fourth and the iPhone 7 Plus follows suit despite being almost a year old.
Their review praises Galaxy S8’s new design although the publication advises users to test out the devices in real life before purchasing due to potential handling issues:
"The look of the S8 and S8+ is minimalist, modern, and elegant—and the design allows for a bigger screen in the same-size device… While the S8 siblings are comfortable to hold, you may need two hands for many operations, and these aren’t phones we’d order online without first handling them in a store."
According to Consumer Reports, the Galaxy S8 duo provides “some of the best smartphone battery life” out there, with the Galaxy S8 Plus lasting over 17 hours and its smaller sibling over 14 hours on their proprietary LTE battery life test. And of course, the review does not forget to mention their impressive camera quality: Several phones in our ratings take absolutely stunning photos, but even in that group the Samsung S8 phones shoulder their way to the front rank. The colors are rich and the low-light performance admirable. They take great video, as well.
"Several phones in our ratings take absolutely stunning photos, but even in that group the Samsung S8 phones shoulder their way to the front rank. The colors are rich and the low-light performance admirable. They take great video, as well."
One thing that Consumer Reports finds slightly frustrating is the position of the fingerprint scanner (as I’m sure many of us would agree). The rear-facing scanner is situated right next to the camera lens, making it “awkward” to reach for it and often times resulting in smudge marks on the camera lens itself.
More than one million Google Pixel and Pixel XL devices are now believed have shipped. Though Google doesn’t release official sales figures for its phones, the shipment numbers have been estimated based on data from the Google Play Store.
One of the key features of Google Play is that it displays how many times an app has been installed on different Android devices. By looking at the installs of an app like the Pixel Launcher, which is exclusive to the Pixel and Pixel XL phones, we can get a rough idea of how many of the devices have been sold.
Now, I say rough idea because these install counts only cover bands like 50,000-100,000 or, in the Google Pixel’s case, 1,000,000-5,000,000. However, Ars Technica had been keeping an eye on this: so we know that the Pixel Launcher has only just crossed the one million threshold from the previous 500,000-1,000,000 tier, seven months after the release of the Pixel and Pixel XL.
For clarity, the app install number is based on installs per device — it doesn’t matter how many times an app is uninstalled and reinstalled — and includes pre-installed apps too..
So, how do the Pixel and Pixel XL stack up against other manufacturers? Access to comparable figures, timeframes and markets is understandably difficult to obtain, but the following data will give you some idea.
Samsung sold five million Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus units after just 26 days of availability, despite having their initial release limited to a few key markets like South Korea and North America. In South Korea alone it only took a reported 37 days to reach one million devices sold locally, while the S7 and S7 Edge are believed to have taken 74 days to reach the same mark.
The LG G6, on the other hand, is said to have scored 30,000 sales in its first two days, and one analyst suggested that its sales may “stand at 400,000 units in the first quarter [2017] and 1.7 million units in the April-June period.” Those sales estimates — around two million units in six months — are roughly double that of the Pixels: one million over seven months. It should be noted that there are two Pixels and two Galaxy S8’s compared to the one G6.
Huawei, meanwhile, is reportedly targeting 10 million total sales of its P10 and P10 Plus, but we don’t have current estimates for those.
Apple’s iPhone 7 sales numbers are also difficult to examine. Apple sells hundreds of millions of phones per year, but that’s including all iPhone devices, not just the latest models. The iPhone 7 launched in September, 2016, and by the end of the year, analysts were predicting shipments between 70 and 75 million, while Apple suppliers expected something closer to the 100 million units mark (and around 220 million total sales for the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus during their lifetime).It would appear, then, that the Pixel and Pixel XL arecomparativelyweak-selling flagship phones, but there are many factors at play here. These are Google’s “first phones,” the first that it has put its name on and marketed as its own product. They’re also sold mostly online rather than in stores. In other words, one million shipments for the Pixels in seven months isn’t bad going — despite that Google probably could have achieved more if itgot its stock levels right.
It would appear, then, that the Pixel and Pixel XL are comparatively weak-selling flagship phones, but there are many factors at play here. These are Google’s “first phones,” the first that it has put its name on and marketed as its own product. They’re also sold mostly online rather than in stores. In other words, one million shipments for the Pixels in seven months isn’t bad going — despite that Google probably could have achieved more if it got its stock levels right.
Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ have been rated the best smartphones available by Consumer Reports.
Both devices outranked their rivals — including the iPhone 7 — in design, battery life, and camera performance. However, they aren’t considered perfect, with testers noting that they are difficult to operate with one hand, and their fingerprint scanners are awkwardly-placed.
Oh, how times have changed. Just a few years ago, Samsung was a company famous for making flimsy, unattractive smartphones packed with unnecessary features that still commanded premium price tags. Those price tags haven’t changed, but everything else has.
Since Samsung started taking design seriously, the South Korean company has produced some of the prettiest handsets money can buy. It has also focused its efforts on features people want over those they don’t, and fixed its bloated software.That’s why the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are the best smartphones available today, according to Consumer Reports, which recommends them over rivals like the Google Pixel, LG’s new G6, and even the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
Both handsets received praise for their unique designs and stunning edge-to-edge displays. “The look of the S8 and S8+ is minimalist, modern, and elegant—and the design allows for a bigger screen in the same-size device,” reads the report.
They’re comfortable to hold, though impossible to use with one hand, and they offer “some of the best smartphone battery life we’ve seen.” The larger Galaxy S8+ obviously lasts longer thanks to its bigger battery, but even the regular Galaxy S8 proved impressive.
The same can be said for their cameras: “Several phones in our ratings take absolutely stunning photos, but even in that group the Samsung S8 phones shoulder their way to the front rank.”
Consumer Reports gives a “shout-out” to Samsung for addressing over-sharpened images this year, and says the Galaxy S8 series produces photos with rich colors, great video, and even performs well in low light.
It adds that the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ “don’t suffer” for using only one rear-facing camera as opposed to two like the iPhone 7 Plus and LG G6.
There’s room for improvement, however. Consumer Reports agrees that Bixby, Samsung’s new virtual assistant, “just isn’t there yet.” It also says that the positioning of the fingerprint scanner on the back of the Galaxy S8 is awkward to reach.
Nevertheless, “if you want a stunning camera, long battery life, and gorgeous display in a water-resistant package, one of these could be the right phone for you,” the report concludes.
iPhone fans will be keen to point out in the comments that Apple’s latest handsets are getting long in the tooth now, while the Galaxy S8 series is brand new, so is bound to be better. That’s fair — but Apple has a lot of catching up to do with iPhone 8.
The rumors suggest we will get a much-improved device that’s capable of competing, with its own edge-to-edge display, features like iris scanning, improved water-resistance, and a next-generation Touch ID scanner embedded beneath the iPhone’s OLED display.
We’ll have to wait until September to find out whether the iPhone 8 delivers.
When it comes to Reddit, it’s quite difficult to place it in a specific category. There are so many perspectives from which it can be seen. It could be considered a social bookmarking site or a social news site. However, if we were to sum it up, it is a place where people will be able to share the interesting things they will find on the Internet. You can post anything from photos or videos to writing your posts where you ask a question or people’s opinions in regards to a matter. Also, there is no need for the content to be fresh, nor is it necessary to hyperlink it.Reddit is useful in the process of making a blog, as you can post links to your blog posts or any articles you have been writing. One of the main reasons people choose to join Reddit is the fact that they have the possibility to bring and spread awareness of the content they are creating. It helps them to get the traffic they want to their websites. In doing so, there are a few strategies that need to be applied and about which we are going to talk about next.
How to get Reddit to work for you
So, you have created your blog and wrote several posts that you have previously shared on the social platforms. However, it is not enough. Then, you stumbled upon Reddit and decided to give it a shot. How can you make this move with a maximum rate of success? Let’s see how you can promote your content and why is Redditone of the best ways to do it.
Before starting to post on Reddit, here are some tips that will maximize your rate of success:
Use the right title
– Usually, Reddit users will create longer titles because there is no room for a description. You should do that too. However, remember that your title should gather three characteristics: Catchy, Descriptive and Relevant.
Assigning the appropriate Reddit for your post
– Before you start posting, make sure that you will place the post in the suitable category. Placing it in a random one will barely get you any traffic. If you have an article that is not very relevant for the Reddits in there, you can include it on a broader topic.
Do not shorten up those URLs
– One thing you should not be doing is to place short URLs into your posts. Instead, you should post the URLs in their original form. This way, people will be able to see the domain and not get suspicious. One reason for which they do not click on short URLs is because they do not observe the domain, so they tend to believe that there might be entering a malicious site.
Interact!
– Allow your social skills to develop in this virtual environment. Comment and upvote the links others post. Help others with the answers and suggestions they need. Post links that are interestingto the community and make sure that your page will not look like a leech, because there you have the record of your comments and those of your links.
Why is Reddit such a great website? Because of the targeted marketing, as you have the possibility to add some Reddits to your front-page. When posting the links in the suitable Reddit, those that are interested in those topics will see your content on their front page too. Another reason for which Reddit is so great is the fact that every blog, regardless of the topic it approaches, will have a place in there. Add the awesome community and the fact that it is completely free, and you have the recipe for success.
In today’s date, Whatsapp needs no introduction. It is a brilliant social networking app by Facebook. It is an instant messaging app which uses 2G,3G,4G or WiFi connection to send and receive messages. Recently WhatsApp added free call option within the app. For all that, you just need an active internet connection. We can change whatsapp profile picture, change status, change privacy options in whatsapp. Thus, it allows lot of personification. User can hide or show his whatsapp profile picture, status from other users. There is also an option that allows you to hide from other users whether you have read their messages or not. It is a great privacy feature. User can change background wallpaper in chat screen. Setting whatsapp profile picture is a very easy task. And many users out there change it several times a day. Users use whatsapp profile picture to show their emotion or say a message. But there is a limitation of whatsapp. User can only set square profile picture. Sometimes it becomes very irritating as user has to crop down the part of image he does want to set as whatsapp profile picture without cropping. Well don’t you worry guys, there is actually a solution to that problem. It allows you to set up image as it is. You do not need to crop it.
How To Set Whatsapp Profile Picture Without Cropping.
Given below are the best and easiest methods to set WhatsApp profile photo in any aspect ratio other than 1:1. Follow the steps given below to set a complete image as your profile picture without having to crop anything.
Method 1:- Use SquareDroid To Set Whatsapp Profile Picture Without Cropping.
Follow below written steps to set whatsapp profile photo without cropping.
Step 1. First of all, users need to download SquareDroid app by clicking on download button below.
Step 2. Open the app as soon as installation is complete.
Step 3. Now the screen that opens, you have to tap on Pick a Photo
Step 4. Select A Picture Which You wanna set whatsapp profile picture.
Step 5. Now save the photo and set it as Whatsapp profile photo by selecting it from gallery as you do normally.
Now you can set that photo as your WhatsApp profile photo without any need to crop it.
Method 2:- Use No Crop to set Whatsapp Profile Picture without Cropping.
Follow the steps written below to use No Crop to set Whatsapp profile photo without cropping.
Step 1. First of all, the user needs to download No Crop by clicking on download button below.
Step 2. Open the app as soon as installation is complete.
Step 3. Now select the photo you want to set as whatsapp profile photo
Step 4. Adjust the background transparency, blurred level and position.
Step 5. Hit “Save” and set the image as your WhatsApp profile picture.
Other then this functionality, this app has many other features such as emojis, stickers, filters, etc. It can also do basic editing such as brightness contrast etc. Using this app you can easily set up a whatsapp profile picture without any need to crop it.
That’s it from from us on How to set Whatsapp Profile Picture without Cropping. If you have any other method or questions regarding this topic feel free to ask us in the comments section below.
Ad networks acts as one of the popular source for blogger or webmasters to make money online. It doesn’t require any specific skills to bag some cash. If you have a website with decent traffic, you are good to go with good paying ad-networks that seems promising with their unique feature, relevant ads and timely payouts. We better know, the widely used advertising network is Google’s own AdSense which provides its authority itself. As the number of fraudulent activities and spamming has been increased among digital marketers, AdSense became vigorous in banning accounts.We have seen people blaming Google for terminating their accounts even without knowing their activities that violate AdSense Terms. If you think AdSense is out of reach for you (or you need an alternate earning source), you should definitely look for some best adsense alternative. Here in this article, you are going to get introduced with an ad-network that became quite popular among publishers within short time just because of their quality ad serving and high payouts.
A Short Introduction
If you are a person having interest in digging the background, you will find out the fact that HilltopAds is fairly new to the market as compared to other ad-network. But despite of latecomer, the daily stats tell its success story. Till date, the current stats speaks about their performance. They currently serves around 150 million daily impressions that includes authentic impressions on mobile popunder, mobile banner, regular banner etc..
Below, you will come to know some interesting features of HilltopAds that seems quite promising for publisher traffic monetization.
Why should You Join HilltopAds as a Publisher?
Being a publisher, you want to maximize your revenue, right? You are fed up of Adblocker revenue drop? Disappointed from adsense because your account got disabled. Looking to make some extra money by referring your friends. If all these your goal then quickly check out this ad-network features and figure out whether HilltopAds seems reasonable to try once or not?
Save Adblock Revenue Loss with Anti Ad Blocking Solution
Ad blockers are the real pain for website owners, whose income solely depends on display advertisements. These ad blockers hides all display advertising and allows visitors to access website contents without leaving any impression or third party clicks. Hence, there is a massive drop in publishers revenue and big disappointment for bloggers or content creators who provides free information with the hope of few penny in return from ads.
Keeping aside all, HilltopAds comes with interesting integration that doesn’t permit readers to get away easily without interacting with relevant ads. No matter your visitors use ad blockers, despite of that due to strong anti-adblock codes of HilltopAds, your ads always display to your visitors.
Zero Transaction Fee
We have seen many payment methods to receive funds. Almost every payment platform charges transaction fee from the fund we receive and in the end we end up worrying about the lost amount. You won’t feel disappointed about the whopping transaction fee for the payment from HilltopAds. They will cover all the fees and make sure that you get all the money you earned.
In your account, you need at least $50 to be eligible to get the money. Either you can follow the Net7 payment holding policy or you can set a higher threshold amount.
HilltopAds supports the following payment methods,
You know ad placement has a lot to do with the click through rate. As long as you don’t place the right ads at the right place, you won’t get the maximum CTR and it negatively affects your earning.
To display relevant ads and maximizing profit, you always in need of good ad size option availability. Yes, HilltopAds comes with quite impressive ad format size which helps publishers to chose according to their desire and traffic monetization strategy.
Desktop banners 300×250 – invideo, bottom banners
Mobile banners 300×250 –footer, header, middle
IM (Instant Messenger)
Mobile popunder
Desktop popunder
In-Player ads
No Minimum Traffic or Website Restriction
This is fact that, All website is not same and all don’t have similar traffic. Everyone can’t achieve a million hits on any website within a short span of time. But that doesn’t mean any medium volume traffic or growing website is impossible to monetize. HilltopAds’ always looking to accept even growing blogs to serve ads. But you must know that a decent traffic figure (not millions, though) is needed for you to earn a healthy amount every month.
They don’t classify sites and restrict any specific class from serving their ads. No matter which type of site you have (micro niche, gaming, blog, entertainment, news, etc.), all they care about is the quality of the website. Don’t think you can scam them, though the algorithm regularly catches fraudsters red-handed.
Make Extra Money From Referrals
You can earn something extra with the help of HilltopAds’ referral program that pays 5% commission. Once you bring someone to the network (publisher or advertiser), they need to earn or spend money to get you the profit.
Why should You Join HilltopAds as an Advertiser?
An advertiser needs the maximum ROI for their investment. Does HilltopAds provide you with that? Let’s find out,
Real-time bidding system
When you set up an ad campaign, you have to set a bidding amount to start with. Sooner or later, there’s a chance for the targeting keyword (or location) to have higher bids. HilltopAds allows you to change the amount in real-time to ensure you stay on top.
Traffic from Direct Publishers Only
Even though HilltopAds doesn’t follow any strict guidelines for publishers, but they constantly analyze how the publishing websites perform. Based on the top performing sites they allow to target and display most relevant ads. So, need not to worry about the traffic sources because the visitors come only from direct publishers.
Advanced Targeting
HilltopAds contains different targeting techniques to get you the maximum leads per visits ratio. You can filter out the global audience on the basis of location, device, searched keywords, browser, etc. and deliver your campaign to the selected ones.
A few more
Self service for advertisers
Own ad server solution
Integration with mobile tracking systems
CPM, CPA, CPC, CPO, PPI, CPL payment models
How To Get Started With HilltopAds
Well, you are curious to know how publisher or advertiser can sign up and start making money or run a campaign respectively.
You will get a confirmation email link to verify. Check your email and confirm,
As soon you finish, you will redirected to the dashboard where it asked to complete your profile details and payment info.
For publisher you need to click on “Manage site and Zone” from left menu and complete the publisher application form. Once you will submited then your details will be awaiting approval and someone will contact via Email or Messenger for further help.
In few hours, your account will be activated and you are ready to place ad code
Final Verdict
Making extra money from blogging is always productive and it become more interesting when affiliate referral revenue going to be included. Yes, keeping in mind publishers’ interest HilltopAds comes with variety of payment options, regular payment, referral earning and serves most relevant ads by being a trusted network for both publishers as well as advertisers.
