Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most frequently upgraded apps for the week. We’ve found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to find the ones that are actually being updated by the developers rather than selecting the apps with the most installs. As in the past, we’re going to filter out minor updates for the super-popular apps that have over 10 million installs, but we’ll make exceptions for apps that have had significant updates. We hope you enjoy this weekly feature and that you discover some apps that end up being useful.

Google Photos – Version 1.6.0

What’s new in this version:

• Chromecast support: Cast your photos and videos to your TV, even if they haven’t been backed up yet. Plus, pick and choose what shows up on your TV while you’re browsing on your phone.
• More people features (US only): In Search, you can now label and merge people groupings. Once labeled, easily search for people, or combine people, place, and thing search terms for even more precise results, such as “Juliana at beach in Hawaii”.
• Animations can now be shared directly to WhatsApp

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Chromecast – Version 1.12.32

What’s new in this version:

•  What’s On: Browse popular and featured content from your favorite cast-enabled apps.
• Devices: Personalize backdrop with Facebook and Flickr photo albums and control (play, pause & change volume) all your Chromecast devices.
• Get Apps: Discover new offers and cast-enabled apps from content partners, through our curated and merchandised experience.
• Search: Find where you can cast your favorite movies and TV shows.

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Amazon Cloud Drive – Version 1.2.0

What’s new in this version:

• Delete and rename files and folders
• Swipe to preview photos and videos

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Steam – Version 2.1.0

What’s new in this version:

• Added Community Market, Trading, Broadcasts, Game Hubs, Discussions, and more to the app.
• The profile views have been updated with showcases, badges, and more.
• The Store views have also been updated with new personalization features and user reviews.r

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Texture – Version 4.1.1.83

What’s new in this version:

• Next Issue is now Texture.
• Today we launch with a new name and a new look.

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ZenWatch Manager – Version 2.0.0

What’s new in this version:

• Brand new design
• Most popular and new watch faces section
• More watch faces for you
• More flexibility in customize your watch face. Up to 3 info widgets
• Support interactive watch face

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Messenger – Version 1.5.0

What’s new in this version:

• Support for Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• Bug fixes and improvements

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Skype – Version 6.4.0

What’s new in this version:

Nova Launcher – Version 4.1.0

What’s new in this version:

• Normalize Icon Size, automatically shrink overly large icons to match Material guidelines
• Marshmallow style search bars (Color and grayscale)
• Support runtime permissions on Marshmallow
• Optimizations and bug fixes

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Viber – Version 5.6.0

What’s new in this version:

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Not long ago, Google announced that it would be restructuring the company using a new company called Alphabet to oversee the new, separate sub-companies. The premise was that each endeavor should have its own company under one parent company, so the failures of each endeavor won’t hurt Google as a whole. So Google is now focused on search and mobile, and different divisions are left to do what they do best.

The company announced that the restructuring will be completed by the end of the day today, October 2, and Google stocks will begin trading as Alphabet stocks on October 5. However, the previous ticker symbols of GOOG and GOOGL will remain.

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While the Pebble may have ushered in the modern smartwatch, the Moto 360 set the precedent for just how gorgeous a smartwatch could be. Its round metal body made it look more like a classic timepiece than any smartwatch before it. And its bright colorful display, including the now charming flat tire, placed it ahead of anything to come before it.

As far as Android Wear watches go, the original Moto 360 was arguably the most popular. With the Moto 360 second generation, Motorola was tasked with keeping its round smartwatch at the top of the pack. For those who are rooting for Motorola, you’ll be happy to know they’ve pulled it off.

Specs and Performance

The specs of a smartwatch are always the most boring part of the device. With recent releases, we’ve yet to see a smartwatch blow any other out of the water. That includes speed, display, battery life, storage, etc. Some are better than others, but there’s nothing that immediately stands head and shoulders above the competition.

The best you can hope for is that new smartwatches are able to eclipse their predecessors and keep up with the rest of the pack. In this regard, Motorola kills it with the Moto 360. On paper, it’s better than the first generation in many ways. The true success of the Moto 360′s internals is that those changes do indeed translate into real world performance.

Swiping through apps and notifications is quick and painless, the touchscreen is always responsive, and ambient light sensing works without any fuss. Fitness tracking seemed to work well, at least well enough to compare against past data, which is all that really counts in tracking your progress.

The screen looks improved over the first gen Moto 360, and it’s definitely faster. Battery life is also improved in the second generation Moto 360. I took my 360 off the charger at 9 a.m., and by 6 p.m. the battery was at 72%. Getting through a day of work is no problem, and if you don’t wear a watch around the house, like myself, getting two days should be relatively easy.

Charging the Moto 360 didn’t take forever, but it could have been faster. Though the wireless charger feels nice enough and is convenient.

All in all, as far as specs and performance are concerned, the new Moto 360 well worth the money.

Official specs are as follows:
Display​

• Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Backlit LCD
• Mens 42mm and Womens: 1.37” (35mm), 263ppi (360 X 325)
• Mens 46mm: 1.56” (40mm), 233ppi (360 X 330)

Watch case dimensions

• Mens: 46mm diameter by 11.4mm high, 42mm diameter by 11.4mm high
• Womens: 42mm diameter by 11.4mm high

Processor

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU (APQ 8026)
• Adreno 305 with 450MHz GPU

Sensors

• Accelerometer
• Ambient
• Light Sensor
• Gyroscope
• Vibration/Haptics engine

Battery

• Mens 42mm and Womens: 300mAh – Up to 1.5 days of mixed use with Ambient off. Up to a full day of mixed use with Ambient on.
• Mens 46mm: 400mAh – Up to 2 days of mixed use with Ambient off. Up to a full day of mixed use with Ambient on.

Memory

• 4GB internal storage
• 512MB RAM

Connectivity

• Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

Microphone

• Dual digital mics

Hardware and Design

Smartwatches are incredibly personal devices. So while specs undoubtedly do matter, they don’t matter nearly as much as the physical design of the device. As such, you need to try on the new Moto 360 to really get a feel for it. And even then, unless you’ve ordered one, you can only get a partial feel for the Moto 360. Because it’s not your Moto 360.

Like the Moto X Pure Edition, the new Moto 360 is Moto Maker-compatible. That means you will get to choose the color of the body, the bezel style, the band and the size. After looking through textured bezels, gold, black and silver bodies, and leather and metal watch straps, I went with a slightly more subdued look.

My Moto 360 is 42mm, not 46mm, and has a brushed silver body, chromed silver bezel and black leather strap. It’s perfect for me. The 42mm is a fantastic size. It’s not too thick, not too large and sits comfortably on top of my arm. The leather is soft and the entire watch has a nice heft to it.

In terms of fit, feel and finish, the new Moto 360 is an improvement over the previous model, new lugs and all. Getting to customize it to your liking makes it even better. Other smartwatches may have more or less caught up with the Moto 360 by now in terms of quality and design, but it’s the little details that keep the new Moto 360 ahead of the competition.

Software

The second generation Moto 360 runs on Android Wear. So there’s no real surprises there, which is a good thing. Moto hasn’t done anything weird to mess it up. I won’t spend any time talking about Android Wear itself, but I will touch on Motorola’s included fitness app, Moto Body.

Moto Body is Motorola’s fitness tracking suite that comes built into the the Moto 360. It shows info on your heart rate, steps, active calories burned and provides an analysis of your fitness. It works well enough so that for general fitness tracking, you’re not likely to find anything much better. If you want something more specialized, like for running for example, look elsewhere.

Wrap up

Motorola has taken a pretty similar approach to the Moto 360 and Moto X Pure Edition this year: focus on where its strengths are. Google is really good at making software. So just use it! Don’t muck it up too much and only change it when it really, actually improves user experience. And Motorola is really good at making hardware. So focus on that!

The new Moto 360 will probably be the Android Wear device to beat again this year. Not because people don’t like change or because Moto’s name now has some clout behind it — though those are both good reasons — but because it’s genuinely one of the best smartwatches you can buy again.

To customize your Moto 360, head to Motorola.com now.

Gallery

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While the Chromecast gets a lot of the attention for its low price, Android TV has grown considerably since launch and continues to add apps and compelling hardware at an impressive rate.

As we mentioned with the NVIDIA SHIELD update earlier this week, the number of Android TV apps has risen to over 1,000 now, although reminiscent of the Android tablet app dilemma there are only a bit over 50 in Google’s curated list. Some notable new additions include Showtime, HBO Now, CBS All Access, Disney Movies Anywhere, Epix, WWE and UFC.

New Android TV manufacturers continue to come on board as well, with Hisense and TCL representing some of the more recent smart TV makers to offer Android TV. Additionally set-top boxes with Android TV from Pace, Sagemcom, and Technicolor are coming as part of partnerships with KDDI and Telecom Italia, which will allow seamless integration of Android TV with standard TV service.

While I’m excited to see Android TV continue to grow there are still issues that need to be worked out. Chief among them is that I will frequently find apps that aren’t compatible with my specific Android TV. HBO Now and Disney Movies Anywhere for example can’t be installed on NVIDIA SHIELD. There’s enough frustration amongst users regarding streaming services being limited to those that have a specific cable or internet provider without heaping on seemingly random device omissions.

It is still early days for Android TV and again, there have been tremendous strides since launch, but the competition to be the brains behind the streaming media in the home is fierce, so they need to keep moving fast if they are going to keep up.

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First Google revealed its Android 6.0 update plans, then HTC did, and now it’s Motorola’s turn to talk about its Marshmallow update plans.

Motorola has announced that it currently plans to push Marshmallow to 12 phones, ranging from the Moto G (2nd Gen.) to the DROID Turbo to the Moto X Pure Edition. Interestingly, there’s no mention of the Moto E on this list, it looks like the original Moto X is being left on Lollipop, and the only Moto X (2nd Gen.) that’s named is the Pure Edition (does that mean carrier-branded models are left out?). Here’s the full list provided by Motorola:

• 2015 Moto X Pure Edition (3rd gen)
• 2015 Moto X Style (3rd gen)
• 2015 Moto X Play
• 2015 Moto G (3rd gen)
• 2014 Moto X Pure Edition in the US (2nd gen)
• 2014 Moto X in Latin America, Europe and Asia2 (2nd gen)
• 2014 Moto G and Moto G with 4G LTE2 (2nd gen)
• DROID Turbo
• 2014 Moto MAXX
• 2014 Moto Turbo
• Nexus 6

Before you ask, no, Motorola hasn’t revealed when any of these updates will begin rolling out. Instead, Moto says that it’ll “work fast but we won’t push the upgrades out until we know they’re ready.” The good news is that Motorola has been pretty quick about pushing out updates in the past, so it may not be long before Marshmallow begins rolling out its doors.

In other Motorola Marshmallow news, the company says that it’ll actually remove some of its Moto features from Android 6.0 updates. Moto Assist and Motorola Migrate will both be pulled from Marshmallow because Google has its own versions baked into Android 6.0. Motorola will also pull the Motorola Connect Chrome extension because “many consumers have moved from SMS to other over-the-top messaging services.”

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Not long ago, a bug was discovered that affected almost all Android devices and rendered them open to hacking without the user ever having to install anything. The exploit was called Stagefright, and every manufacturer got to work trying to patch it. Far from all devices are patched, but the latest flagships are now safe from the exploit.

However, the battle isn’t over. A few more Stagefright bugs hage been discovered, but instead of relating to the MMS system, it’s now related to playing infected MP3 or MP4 files. This means that you’ll have to visit a link sent to you, so it’s a lwas dangerous than the previous bug, which only required the device to download an MMS message (which most do automatically).

Motorola says it’s already patching the exploit, which will come with the Android M update. Other manufacturers are likely working on it as well. For now, it’s advised you do not open links from strangers. Stay safe.

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If you’re not aware, Experian had a serious data breach which has compromised the personal information of some T-Mobile customers. More specifically, the intruder had access to the info of those who applied for T-Mobile postpaid services between September 1 of 2013 and September 16 of 2015. While credit card info was not stolen, identifying information like name, address, Social Security, and more may have been compromised.

While this is not T-Mobile’s fault, CEO John Legere has responded to the issue saying that the relationship between Experian and T-Mobile will be reviewed, along with providing as much info as possible to help with recovering from this breach.

According to Experian, none of the info seems to have been used so far. But for those affected, Experian is offering up to two years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services. If you’re part of the breach, definitely check out your options. Hit the source links for more information.

Sources: Experian, T-Mobile

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Video streaming is a big deal right now, but every different type of streaming has its own service. For shows, we watch Netflix or Hulu. For user content, we watch YouTube. For gaming, we use Twitch. But Verizon is aiming to create a service that encompasses a lot of those categories with a social twist.

The service is called go90, and it’s aimed specifically at mobile. It currently features over 8,000 titles and 35 exclusive series, with much more coming by the end of the year. It looks like Verizon nabbed quite a bit of support for this service, though we’ll see if it’s enough.

It also features a lot of social features. Sharing features include cutting pieces of clips and sending them to friends or even starting a “Crew” for your friends to share interests. It seems like a heavy push towards social, but is that what people want?

This service isn’t Verizon exclusive, though Verizon data caps will surely keep it back. You can now download the app for iOS and Android and check it out for yourself. It’s free, so it’s worth a shot. Let us know how you like it!

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Amazon is taking the streaming media battle to a new level at the end of this month by banning sales of the Chromecast and Apple TV. In an email to marketplace sellers carrying either device, Amazon indicated that new listings will not be allowed and all current inventory unsold by October 29th will be removed.

Amazon offered this explanation for the move, “Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime….It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.”

That’s one way to phrase it. The other way would be to say that Amazon has refused to add Chromecast support to their Prime Video app and refused to create a Prime Video app for Apple TV. Both of these tasks are well within their power and minimally difficult considering they have somehow managed to offer apps for both Android and iOS.

Roku, Xbox and Playstation all gain reprieve from the ban as they do work with Amazon Prime Video, which again is entirely within Amazon’s control.

It’s certainly an interesting development in the increasingly competitive streaming media market. With all three companies releasing new hardware this fall, apparently Amazon decided it was best to thin the competition ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.

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Yesterday brought us the announcement of the LG V10, a new device that features a secondary display above the main display. LG initially said that the device would be coming to Korea, but this morning, the company has revealed that the V10 will also be coming stateside on Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. The downside is that neither LG nor any of the three carriers have spoken on pricing or launch details, so we’re still in the dark on those matters.

The secondary ticker display on the LG V10 is a small 2.1-inch display that has a number of different uses. You can use it to display info like battery life, weather and time or you could use it for different features, such as a dock for app shortcuts or a hub for alerts. Another interesting feature of the LG V10 is that it packs in two front-facing cameras, which can be used together to create a 180-degree wide-angle picture. All in all, it looks to be an interesting device.

We’ll keep you posted when we hear more about pricing and release specifics.

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