Google Play Music All Access, Google’s subscription based music service, doesn’t have a great name. It’s a pretty fantastic service (when it isn’t freezing) with a big selection of music, but the name is simply too long and cumbersome to say in conversation. But according to some quickly removed text on a Google page, the service may be renamed soon.

It would be exciting if the new name wasn’t “Google Play unlimited music subscription.” No, I’d say that’s quite a bit worse. It’s still too long, but sounds even worse. Nonetheless, this change might be coming soon. This snippet of text was found in the page for the Nexus 7 promotion offering 3 months of All Access:

A Google Play unlimited music subscription (previously known as Google Play Music All Access) entitles subscribers to listen to unlimited music from the song titles available within Google Play on a monthly basis.

This text has been removed as of writing this article. But it did appear on an official Google page, so it seems likely that this is true. Or it could have been a mistake on Google’s part. Either way, the name isn’t getting better anytime soon. What would you call Google Play Music All Access? Make it short and sweet, and leave your suggestion in the comments! Google won’t read them!

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The focus of a tablet is generally the hardware, due to its size and nature. That, however, is no excuse for overlooking the software on a tablet, which makes or breaks the experience. As we’ve reviewed the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+, we’ve tested out the software and seen how it performed. So sit back, relax and hear all about our opinions on it. Because before you buy it, you should really hear about the software.

The Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, a seemingly odd decision for a new tablet. Lenovo has said that the KitKat update is rolling out, but our review unit was still on Android 4.3. Not only were we stuck on an older version of Android, but we also had to deal with Lenovo’s software overlay which was, in a word, terrible.

Lenovo’s skin isn’t quite as pervasive as some, which was probably the only reason that I tolerated it without pulling my hair out. The Lenovo launcher experience is slow and clunky, with a move away from the traditional app drawer. Rather, you have multiple homescreens where all your installed apps are, like iOS, only uglier and clumsier. A heads-up to Lenovo, the app drawer is there for a reason and it’s because Android users like it.

Going into quick settings and settings is like a blast from the past. The UI looks about three years old with goofy icons and rounded corners pervading the settings. The accent color is a bright green, not dissimilar to the green in Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Added on top of that, Lenovo included several of its _______it apps on the device. None of these are particularly useful and the SECUREit app in particular keeps a constant notification in the notification bar, with no discernible way to disable the feature.

The Yoga 10 HD+ also has multiple sound and visual profiles that it uses. While not a bad idea, they require you to manually change them, and like SECUREit, keep a constant notification informing you of the profile you’re using. Not exactly pleasing. A multi-window feature is built into the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+. Unfortunately, few apps are compatible with it and it feels slower than most other multi-window implementations.

While the hardware of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ held great potential, it’s crippled by a poor software experience. The software is outdated and the UI only serves to enhance that, with a slow and clunky feel throughout. It pains us to say that the software deserves a solid thumbs down, but there’s really nothing better to say about it. Next time around, Lenovo should stick with stock Android and just work to keep the device up to date.

Check out the gallery below for a few screenshots.

Gallery

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We live in a society that lives in pictures. For better or worse, capturing the moment is a ubiquitous pastime. So, if you’re gonna do something, you might as well do it well. For image capture, a good photo editor can take “doing it well” to “doing it great.” But which one to use?

There are lots of services out there that can help you Instagram your best selfie to the world. This past week, I’ve been using a free little app called Fotor to improve (or seriously mess up for the lulz) my images.

The first thing I did when I installed the app was take a picture of myself and apply every possible feature on top of each other. Obviously. Here’s that handiwork:

I look good. And from that moment, I was pretty hooked on Fotor.

The Good

This app is loaded with features. I really did not expect this much functionality from a free app. I’m too lazy to list out every single thing you can do with this app, but just trust me that it’s a whole hell of a lot. You can manually adjust the levels and curve or use preset filters, stickers and effects to customize your images. You can even adjust how heavily a filter or effect is applied.

The shooter software Fotor includes is full of options, too. You can set the shutter to voice activation or use the big button. You can apply a grid to the preview image. There’s a stabilizer and burst mode and a timer. Basically, whatever setup you like in a shooter, you can probably achieve it with this app.
The UI is clean, simple and easy to understand. You can access photos taken within Fotor or stored in your albums to edit. Once you’ve finished editing a photo, you’re prompted to share your image via your service of choice or return to the home screen. Pretty easy. Your mom could figure it out.

The Bad

I didn’t like the experience of using the Fotor camera as much as I liked the stock camera app. The Fotor camera felt laggier and the processing time on Burst mode was substantial. That’s only a minor annoyance, because you can always capture the image with whatever shooter experience you prefer and edit the images using Fotor after the fact. So, whatever. You can’t always have it all, and you already get a lot out of this free app.

Fotor is clearly targeting a younger crowd, based on some of these stickers. It would be super cool if you could import your own stickers to use with Fotor. But for now, the included collection is extensive and pretty fun.

The Outcome

This is a fully loaded free app that is pleasing to the eye and easy to use. I would tell my real friends to use this app. So, do it. Go play with the app. Be cool like me and make yourself look like some kind of jacked-up minion from Despicable Me. Then post the results in the comments section. How fugly can you make your face?

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Every week we cover new Android apps with Fresh Meat on Wednesday, followed by Android Gaming on Thursday and Top 10 App Updates on Friday. When Monday rolls around, we look back to see which apps were the most appealing to our audience. Read on for the 10 most popular Android apps from last week.

1. Terrain Home

App info: Terrain is a smart homescreen for Android that makes your phone simpler and more streamlined by putting everything you care about in one place. Find contacts faster, launch apps faster, and view content faster.

2. Google Search

App info: Google Search app for Android: The fastest, easiest way to find what you need on the web and on your device.

3. Email

App info: The Email app lets you read and manage email from different accounts all in one place. Got Hotmail? Yahoo Mail? Outlook? No problem—the Email app brings it all together, with the same great experience you get in Gmail.

4. Boom Beach

App info: Storm the beach and win the day! Boom Beach is a combat strategy game where you fight an epic war against the evil Blackguard. 

5. N.O.V.A. 2 – Near Orbit…

App info: 6 years have passed since the events depicted in the first episode. Humanity is now thrown into a bloody civil war fought on one side by the central government of the Terran Orbitals and the self-appointed Human-Alien Alliance; a new organization with a mysterious origin and agenda.

6. Echo Notification Lockscreen

App info: Echo Lock Screen centers your notifications around you. Instead of browsing through dozens of unnecessary messages, Echo automatically filters your notifications and delivers the most important alerts straight to your lock screen.

7. Bizzy Bubbles

App info: Bizzy Bubbles is a virtual busy box for toddlers ages 1 to 4 (and older!) to play, learn, interact and discover the sensory fundamentals of colors, shapes, sounds, simple hand-eye coordination, stimulus/response and realistic object physics.

8. Lumosity

App info: Train your memory and attention. Used by over 60 million people worldwide, Lumosity is a Personal Training Program that challenges your brain.

9. SimplyText SMS

 App info: SimplyText is texting, done better. A great replacement app for the stock SMS messaging app for your phone.

10. EverythingMe Launcher

App info: EverythingMe is a launcher for your Android phone that delivers what you need, when you need it. The launcher anticipates the apps, people and information you’d want – giving you the perfect phone, every time.

Note:  To ensure that all apps receive a fair chance to make the list, we will retire any app that has made the list for 3 consecutive weeks and will place it in our Android and Me App Hall of Fame. We will post this Hall of Fame list in a dedicated series. Any app with * next to the title indicates it will now be added to our Hall of Fame list and will no longer be listed in this article.

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Whenever a major flagship device comes out, a part of us always wishes that it ran stock Android. That’s why Google Play edition devices were created: to put stock Android on your favorite flagship hardware. This year, the only new flagship GPe device that we’ve seen so far is the HTC One (M8), but that could be changing soon.

As we can see from the photo (right), brought to us by @evleaks, there appears to be a Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play edition in the works. That’s unsurprising considering that last year’s Galaxy S4 had a GPe variant. One confusing aspect is that the above photo shows a Galaxy S5 running KitKat with on-screen nav buttons above the Galaxy S5′s hardware buttons. We’ll chalk it up to an early leak glitch, but we dearly hope that it won’t look like that in the final product.

Would you be interested in a Galaxy S5 GPe?

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After a swath of leaks, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 Mini is official. The S5 Mini offers a smaller alternative to customers seeking the features of the Galaxy S5. Per usual with Mini devices, specs have been trimmed down. The list includes a 4.5-inch 720p display, 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal memory supplemented by microSD card slot, 8-megapixel rear camera, 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera, 2,100mAh battery, and Android 4.4 KitKat with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.

Like its bigger brother, the S5 Mini is IP67 dust and water resistant. In fact, several features are borrowed from the full-fledged S5, including a heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner, and that same stippled plastic design. Samsung also made note of the fact that like the big dogs, the S5 Mini is compatible with Samsung-specific wearables.

The S5 Mini is set to launch in Russia in the first half of July, and will come in four colors choices of black, white, blue, and gold. A global rollout is planned shortly after the initial launch.

Would you consider picking up a Galaxy S5 Mini?

Show Press Release

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For years, Lenovo has established a reputation as being a manufacturer of solid, reliable PCs. Recently, however, Lenovo has ventured into the wide world of mobile devices, bringing both phones and tablets to the market. Its most recent Android tablet, the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+, has made it into our hands, ready to be reviewed. The tablet will receive our usual review treatment, meaning that each of its main aspects a once-over before being compiling them into one comprehensive review.

This first feature review takes a look at the design and hardware of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ to see if it can compete in the increasingly competitive tablet market. Enough of the chitchat; let’s dive in!

Lenovo’s Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ takes on a form factor that’s not often seen in the tablet market. The device is trimmed with aluminum but has a large swatch of lightly textured plastic that covers its back. The sides are fairly barren, with a volume rocker on the right side and a charging port on the left side. The front of the device is mainly black glass, with a camera on one side and a reflective Lenovo logo sitting beneath the screen. Resting beneath the screen is a rounded aluminum strip that holds the two stereo speakers and the standout feature of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+.

The Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ borrows from its predecessor’s design with a cylindrical battery that doubles as a kickstand. The aluminum cylinder features a power button on one end, with a headphone jack residing on the other end. In the middle is an aluminum kickstand that requires a bit of rotation to pop out. Once unleashed, the kickstand can be moved around for a near 90-degree content viewing angle, close to a 45-degree angle for looking down a bit more, or you can turn the tablet upside down and place it so that the screen is at an optimal position for typing.

The kickstand is surprisingly stable and is a feature that we’d love to see on more tablets. It made watching videos much easier since the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ can support itself on your desk, leaving you free to do whatever you’d like without having to worry about holding the device. The cylindrical design of the keyboard and battery also made the tablet easy to hold in portrait orientation. With the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+’s large size, however, you’re probably going to keep it in landscape most of the time.

Using the kickstand for typing could be useful as well. I tested this feature, but I’m terrible at typing with two hands on a touchscreen, so I was unable to tell if it was my lack of skill or a design flaw that made typing difficult. If you want my honest opinion, I’m going to stick with the former and say that I’m just a poor touchscreen typist.

For the most part, the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+’s design is great. With its size and metal build, the device is unsurprisingly weighty. However, the large size makes it a bit hard to hold and use while simply carrying it. If you can, you’re almost always better off using it when it’s resting on the kickstand. The final thing to note is that while the aluminum is nice and sturdy, the stretch of plastic on the back is a bit creaky and has some flex in one spot. It’s nothing major to worry about, but it does cheapen the feel of the device.

Just as with any tablet, the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+’s display is important to mention. Last year’s Yoga Tablet 10 was highly criticized for its 10-inch 1280×800 display. Lenovo improved on that feature with this year’s model, adding a 1920×1200 resolution display. Before I go any further, I want to note that I’m coming from an LG G3, HTC One (M8) and Nexus 7 (2013). Maybe I’ve been spoiled by those screens, but I found myself disappointed by the Yoga 10 HD+’s display. Things seemed overly-pixelated for the resolution and colors generally looked inaccurate. It’s a noticeable improvement over last year’s display to be sure, but it still needs some more work to make it great.

The Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ features Dolby stereo speakers. While the sound quality was only a bit above average, I can attest to the fact that these things can get loud. Quite literally, they will wake you from a sound sleep, as happened to me one night when the volume was about a third of the way up. If you don’t have better speakers, they’ll work great for watching Netflix, and when showing something to friends, they produce plenty of sound for everyone to hear.

The design and hardware of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ are a mixed bag. While some features are great, like the kickstand and aluminum build, other parts left us a bit unimpressed. In particular, the display left us simply wanting more. But if you’re amenable to an okay display, the hardware of the Yoga Tablet 10 HD + is great.

Check out the gallery below for a few more pics.

Gallery

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Google Play edition Motorola Moto G owners are getting a treat today in the form of an over the air update to Android 4.4.4.

As far as updates go, Android 4.4.4 is pretty boring. There are no new features or major changes, but it’s important nonetheless, packing in Android 4.4.4 a handful of security and bug fixes that should make you glad to be a stock Android user.

In true Google Play edition fashion, the Moto G GPe’s 4.4.4 updated is close behind the updates sent out to the Nexus 7 and Nexus 5 recently. We still don’t know if the Moto G will be updated to Android L, slated to be released this fall, but with the way Motorola has been killing it with updates recently we would be surprised if the device wasn’t updated.

If you haven’t already been prompted to download the Android 4.4.4 update on your Google Play edition Moto G, you should be shortly.

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It seems like it was only yesterday we were getting our first real look at the officially unveiled Sony Xperia Z2 at Mobile World Congress 2014. Here we are just four months later and the first leaks for Sony’s follow-up flagship, the Xperia Z3, are already popping up online.

Expected to be released in September at IFA, Xperia Blog has posted two pictures of the Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact obtained from Digi-wo, who they say has a good track record with Sony leaks. The pictures are of the two devices’ front panels, or displays, and tell us two key things. For one, Sony is not abandoning their OmniBalance design for their next round of devices. Depending on whether or not you like the look and feel of the Z2, this could be seen as good or bad. We happen to like Sony’s OmniBalance. The other thing today’s leak tells us is that Sony is remaining committed to keeping the Compact really compact. There is a clear size difference between the Z3 and Z3 Compact, something not all manufacturers are doing.

If the Z3 and Z3 Compact really are released at IFA, then we’re only a couple months away from getting an official look at the devices. That means that more leaks are probably going to start flooding in any day now — not only for the Z3 and Z3 Compact, but for phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as well.

Gallery

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One of the most fantastic features available to Android users is the ability to apply custom icons. Here at Android and Me, we want to celebrate this. We’re going to start reviewing and featuring some of the new and great icon packs out there so that you can have the most awesome home screen on the block. Today it’s all about KooGoo.

KooGoo was released a little over a month ago by popular themer Andrea Corvi. KooGoo icons have a unique shape that’s not your typical circle or square with a flat look or long shadow. I’ve never seen anything else like them. One of my favorite parts of the KooGoo icons are how they sport a darker color on the outside and fade to a lighter color on the inside. I didn’t realize it at first, but they pop on any wallpaper. There are many sets out there that require a dark or a light wallpaper in order to take full advantage of the icon pack’s awesomeness. With the solid color on the outside of the KooGoo icons, they show up on a light wallpaper. Since KooGoo fades to a lighter and sweet candy-filled center, they also pop on a dark wallpaper. They’ll look brilliant against any wall.

In addition to offering incredibly unique and fun to use icons, Andrea Corvi provides you with lots of good reasons to spend the $1.89 on KooGoo. KooGoo started out with 1,500 themed icons, and in less than two months, the pack now includes over 1,700. KooGoo receives updates all the time. It also comes with 88 wallpapers, which is far beyond what most icon packs offer. Corvi also includes Muzei and Behang BLink support for the wallpapers for you Android wallpaper aficionados.

In addition to the icon and wallpaper offerings, I really like Corvi’s app dashboard. It’s organized very well, making it easy to find the themed icons for your favorite apps. Corvi has them organized categorically, like Google and system apps. Additionally, Corvi provides a easy-to-use icon request tool that looks at the apps you have an your device and finds the unthemed apps for you. All you have to do is hit send. Out of the more than 100 apps I have on my device, there were only a few icons that weren’t already themed, and most of them were other icon packs. Outside of the hard work of icon-theming, Corvi has also done some unique and useful work with the dashboard app for the icons to give the user a great experience.

So what do you think of KooGoo? Is it something you might like seeing on your home screen? If so, follow the link below to pick up KooGoo in the Google Play Store. If you like Corvi’s work with KooGoo, he just announced a new icon pack, Balx icons, that will be released in July. Be sure to keep an eye out for that.

If you’re not sure how to apply custom icons, there are a couple of ways to get the job done, one of which is to install a custom launcher. If you’re not familiar with custom launchers, check out this post about making your Android device yours. If you don’t want to install a custom launcher, check out this post about Beautiful Icon Styler, which can help you theme your stock launcher.

We’d love to see your home screen rocking KooGoo or any other icon pack. You can use the HTML <img> tag in the comments and show us your own home screen. Let us know what icon pack you want us to review next. Thanks for sharing!

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