Welcome back to Android Gaming Weekly, our weekly recap of new game releases. We still plan to cover upcoming releases and games we’re playing, but this column is dedicated to new games that you can start playing right now. Check out our top picks and let us know in the comments section if you have any suggestions for next week’s post.

Snowboarding The Fourth Phase

Description: Ride like a pro! Recreate your favorite tricks through intuitive controls designed for touch screens. Stomp your tricks in the backcountry and explore epic lines down insane mountainsides!

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Juggernaught Wars

Description:  Juggernaut Wars is a new captivating Action RPG MOBA game. Dozens of astounding heroes, beautiful arenas and thousands of upgrade possibilities are waiting for you!

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Patchwork The Game

Description: In this award-winning board game for two, quilting has never been more competitive! In the long-awaited digital adaptation of Uwe Rosenberg’s Patchwork, players patch their way to victory using fabric pieces of assorted sizes, colors, and buttons.

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The Walking Dead: Michonne

Description: The Walking Dead: Michonne – A Telltale Miniseries stars the iconic, blade-wielding character from Robert Kirkman’s best-selling comic books. Haunted by her past, and coping with unimaginable loss and regret, the story explores Michonne’s absence between issues #126 and #139 of the comic book.

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iSlash Heroes

Description: Tune up your ninja senses, sharpen your slashing skill! The #1 slashing puzzle iSlash is back with new deadly gameplay elements, fearless bosses, stunning graphics and lots of challenging levels!

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Futurama: Game of Drones

Description: NOT SURE IF MATCH 3, OR… – This isn’t Slurm Soda Crush Epic! You gotta match 4, dummy. YOU’RE SPECIAL – Use your special delivery boy superpowers, like, erm… oh never mind. EXPLORE THE FUTURAMA UNIVERSE – And teach colorful aliens how to lurve.

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The East New World

Description: The East New World is a retro-inspired action platformer game with the high quality pixel art style. Any screenshot in the game is a wonderful picture.

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Retro Shot

Description: Retro cities of neon lights filled with explosions and lasers await you as you take on the machine in an 80’s arcade flashback. Blast along to an original synthwave soundtrack as you tackle 60 stages of arcade madness.

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OlliOlli 2: Welcome to Olliwood

Description: Drop in to Olliwood and prepare for finger-flippin’ mayhem in this follow up to cult skateboarding smash OlliOlli. The iconic skater is going all green-screen with a stunning new look, plucking you from the street and dropping you squarely in the middle of the big screen’s most bodacious cinematic locations.

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Parallax

Description: Optimzed for NVIDIA SHIELD, Parallax is a first-person puzzle game with two overlapping worlds. Weave back and forth between black and white as you try to be in the right place, in the right dimension, at the right time.

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Micro USB cables are a hassle. While many don’t think much of it, you have to check if you’re inserting the cable the right way every time you plug your phone in. If you’re not looking attentively (and let’s be fair, both sides look almost identical), you’re shoving a round peg into a square hole.

For most of us, that’s not a big deal. But for the everyday person, imagine how many damaged charging ports this results in. There’s a reason Apple went with the Lighting cable for the iPhone; it just works better. But all hope is not lost. While we wait for USB Type C to become standardized (even the newly announced Galaxy S7 features an old micro USB port), the MicFlip can make life a bit easier.

Overview

Reversible micro USB end
Aluminum plug housings
3 foot braided cable
Gold coated contacts
$19.99
Where to buy: Winnergear

The MicFlip is a very simple cable. One end is a regular USB plug, and the other is a reversible micro USB plug. This reversible plug has both the angles on the sides as well as the prongs that keep the plug in your device. Plugging it in either way works the same.

But the cable is also very premium feeling. The contacts are gold plated, the housings for each plug are made of aluminum, and the cable is braided and tangle free. It’s constructed extremely well, and I especially like the aluminum and very slim plugs. It both looks and feels great.

When it comes to plugging it into your device, you don’t have to bother checking which way you hold it. It just plugs right in. The fitment was a little more snug than the average cable at first (though I’ve seen some reglar cables fit much more snugly), over the course of a week it loosened up a bit. Since then, the resistance hasn’t changed, and it’s been a snug and reassuring fit.

Unfortunately, the other end isn’t reversible. This has been done by other companies, so it wasn’t impossible, but that’s likely the end you rarely unplug anyway.

Overall, the cable is expensive but worth it. It really does feel nice not having to care which way you plug your phone in at night, and even better not having to flip it over when you get it wrong. Plus, it’ll last a long time and look great doing the job. I’d say this is a must have, at least until USB Type C becomes common. And that might not be for another year or two.

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Sometimes you’ll upload a YouTube video and notice something that shouldn’t be there. Whether that’s a person’s face, a license plate, or anything else, YouTube’s editor will now allow you to blur it out from your desktop.

The best part about this new feature is that it’s not just a blur feature, but it’ll follow whatever you have it set to blur. You don’t have to worry about having the blurred part stay on your subject, YouTube will take care of it automatically. When saving the video, it’ll allow you to either save over the original or create a new video and delete the original (you know, in case the comments are full of whatever you wanted to hide).

If you want to find out more about this feature, hit the source link. I think it’s an amazing feature and takes so much effort out of blurring moving subjects out of your videos. Let us know what you think of it in the comments!

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Android 6.0 Marshmallow still seems fresh and new, but that doesn’t mean that future versions of Android aren’t in the works. Android Police has done some digging and found a couple of screenshots that show Android N and a change that looks to be on the way.

Within a post on the Android Developer Blog, there are a few screenshots showing the Bluetooth section within Android N. The revealing piece is the inclusion of a hamburger button in the upper left hand corner. This indicates that Android N will add a navigation drawer within the settings. Within different sections, users can simply open the navigation drawer to find a new section, rather than going back to the main Settings screen and scrolling through to find their desired section.

An interesting aspect that’s pointed out is that the navigation drawer could go against Google’s own design guidelines. These state that a drawer must be consistent across all screens, not simply on one screen and not another. If the drawer isn’t available from the mains ettings screen, it breaks the guidelines. It could be possible, however, that Google will ditch the main Settings screen, instead offering only sections.

Additionally, this could simply be a feature that’s in beta testing on Android N. There’s the real possibility that it may not make it to the final version of Android N.

We’ll keep you posted on more rumors and reports regarding Android N.

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Samsung mobile displays have long been considered some of the best around, with the company’s flagships being outfitted with AMOLED displays that always push the boundaries of what’s available at the time. With the Galaxy S7, Samsung decided to keep both the display size and resolution the same as the previous year’s model, which ended up winning it DisplayMate’s “best mobile display tested” title.

DisplayMate says that Samsung bumped the brightness by 24% over the Galaxy S6. Colors are also spot-on with customizable color profiles. Samsung introduced Personalized Automatic Brightness Control, as well, which learns your preferred brightness depending on the lighting situation, and DisplayMate claims it works really well.

Overall, the Galaxy S7 display comes out on top in almost every test, coming second in a few to the Galaxy Note 5 that it ends up besting. So if you want an amazing display, you know what device to buy. We’re glad to see Samsung improving the display outside of insane resolutions, instead opting to make every other aspect better.

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When Google created the Chromecast, it gained plenty of attention. But one downside of the Chromecast is that it’s still an accessory that you have to plug into your TV. With the rise of smart TVs that have the tech built directly into them, it’s becoming slightly antiquated to continue plugging accessories into them.

That could soon change with the Chromecast, however, as Variety is reporting that Google is partnering with Vizio to build Chromecast tech directly into TVs. The TVs won’t be smart TVs, but they will feature Google Cast built directly into them, so your other devices will recognize them in the same way that they’d recognize a Chromecast.

Google isn’t playing the exclusivity game, though. Variety reports that the tech giant has approached at least one other TV manufacturer in regards to a similar partnership. With Google looking to bring casting functionality directly to TVs, it’s also possible that the company could have plans to merge Android TV and casting technology.

Additionally, Vizio may be planning to change the system by using the remote. According to this report, the company could be ditching a traditional remote in exchange for a tablet. This tablet would be pre-loaded with apps for streaming and casting content.

At this point, there’s still a lot of speculation surrounding the matter, but with the launch of Vizio’s new TVs reportedly coming this spring, it may not be long before we hear official word on the matter.

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With the rise of smartphone photography, manufacturers have worked tirelessly to continue to innovate and prove smartphone cameras. We saw the trend continuing at Mobile World Congress, with Samsung placing a large emphasis on Galaxy S7′s camera and LG offering a modular camera grip for the G5. Now Huawei is getting in on the action as part of a new partnership with revered camera maker Leica.

Leica is well known in the professional photography world as one of the oldest and most admired camera manufacturers. The company is based out of Germany and is known for its high-quality lenses and classic cameras. Leica has garnered a reputation for being old-fashioned, focusing on the image quality and classic design rather than moving forward into the digital age.

The partnership with Huawei has great potential. Huawei has extensive experience with mobile devices and software, while Leica has spent years perfecting hardware, particularly in regards to lenses. It’s not unlikely that we could see a dual-branded phone from the companies that incorporates Leica lens technology. Think something in the style of Nokia’s Lumia 1020, which was a dual-branded phone with Carl Zeiss.

We could also see an Android-powered camera from the two companies. Samsung attempted this with the Galaxy Camera, which never found much success. Other companies have taken similar approaches, but again, no dice. With Leica and Huawei, however, the two companies could create a very interesting camera option, though it would likely be geared at career professionals, given Leica’s pricey history.

Check out the full press release below for more info.

Show Press Release

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As smartphones have continued to advance in power and capabilities, some features have been left partially by the wayside, failing to advance at quite the same rate as other features. One of those features is device storage, which many users have struggled with. Some manufacturers have attempted to alleviate the issue by offering microSD card slots, but this is only a partial solution, as not everything can be stored to a microSD card.

There are promising signs, however, that this is changing. Manufacturers like Samsung have been working to advance the speed and size of flash storage for mobile devices. Last year, the company announced that it had created 128GB flash storage chips for mobile devices. This year, it’s doubling that.

Samsung has officially created a 256GB flash storage chip for mobile devices. The chip is based on the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard and nearly is twice as fast as SATA SSD storage for PCs. In speed terms, the chip can support up to 45,000 input/output operations per second for reading and 40,000 for writing.

What does the extra speed mean for capabilities? This chip can support seamless UHD video playback, as well as advanced split-screen functionality on large screen devices, even while playing 4K video.

To top it all off, Samsung has packed all of these capabilities into a chip that’s smaller than an external microSD card, making it even more compact in future phone designs. The chip isn’t in any current flagships, but Samsung has designed it for next-generation high-end devices and has begun mass production, so with any luck, it won’t be long before we begin seeing devices with higher storage options.

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The Chromecast Audio comes with a 3.5mm cable to connect to your speakers, but some speakers require an RCA or an optical cable. The Chromecast Audio doesn’t come with such connections, but universal adapters are available to make it work. In fact, those adapters are quite cheap.

Google decided to release official cables for the Chromecast audio so you can use the device with RCA and optical speaker systems. This is great, as first party cables are often quite nice. Unfortunately, the problem is in price. These short adapter cables run $15 a piece, which is quite pricey considering you can find the RCA adapter for as little as $5. Not to mention the yellow color, which doesn’t matter if it’s hidden away.

If you’re intent on using first party cables, hit the source links to buy the cables from the Google Store. Otherwise, I’m sure most of you can find a far better deal.

Source: Google Store: RCA Cable for Chromecast Audio, Google Store: Optical Cable for Chromecast Audio

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We’re hot off the heels of flagship announcements at Mobile World Congress, but it’s already time for rumors and reports to come in about the next flagships. This latest one is an official report, rather than just a rumor. In an interview with CNET, OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei broke the news that the OnePlus 3 is set to launch “at the end of the second quarter.”

In addition to the phone coming before the end of June, Pei also mentioned that the OnePlus 3 will feature a “new design” that will “captivate”. The OnePlus 2 followed much of the same design language as its predecessor, not wanting to step outside of the comfort zone that the company had created with the OnePlus One. Unfortunately, the lack of risk-taking with the OnePlus 2 led to disappointment among some users and reviewers.

With the OnePlus 3, the company hopes to spark that same magic that it did with the OnePlus One, tapping into a large user base that’s tired of the traditional smartphone manufacturers. Utilizing a new design will aid in that endeavor, as it shows that the company is still willing to take risks to attract users.

OnePlus will also continue to evolve its marketing and selling strategies. This year, the company will begin to utilize traditional media for the first time, rather than relying solely on its invite-only system that built hype through exclusivity and word-of-mouth. Additionally, the company is also planning to accept payments directly through customer’s credit cards, rather than only accepting payment through PayPal, as it has in the past.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on rumors and news regarding the OnePlus 3.

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