News & Reviews:   Android

The time has come! Microsoft finally released a beta testing app for you to use all the Microsoft tools (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) in just one platform on your Android devices.

Based on a tweet by @WABetainfo, WhatsApp could possibly come with a feature that allows it to be used on multiple devices simultaneously. While they have not given us an ETA of when this feature will be available, the new update gives users greater flexibility when it comes to communicating via WhatsApp.

Starting today, it is possible for players to stream Xbox One console games on their Android devices. All Xbox One testers including Xbox insiders in the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead programs in the UK and US are able to do so.

Based on a statement by xda-developers.com, Google will not approve Android-based smartphones that are running on Android Pie and below by 31 January 2020. However, this does not mean that Google will stop providing updates to Android Pie due to the fact that the roadmap states that it is expected to receive updates until the launch of Android 11 which will be around August 2020.

Snapchat and SYBO Games has announced today that you can race against your friends via Subway Surfers Air Time, which can be found on the Snapchat app. To go into more detail about the game, Subway Surfers Air Time is the first franchise extension from the immensely popular Subway Surfers game released several years back.

Based on a statement by AndroidAuthority, WhatsApp could be getting the disappearing messages feature in the future. To go into more detail, this feature lets the user determine how long the messages will stay visible before it deletes itself from both the sender and the recipient's device.

 Who doesn’t know Mario Kart? Mario Kart Tour which was announced last year finally got a release date. The game will be out on both Android and iOS this 25th of September. 

Instead of naming the Android Q after a yummy dessert, Google threw everything we knew about their Android operating system naming scheme out the window and settled with Android 10 instead. Not only that, it seems that subsequent Android operating systems in the future will have a numerical identifier instead an alphabetical order we’re all familiar with.

Huawei recently unveiled their long-rumoured HarmonyOS not too long ago, claiming that it is the first “microkernel distributed OS” which can be installed in many different devices including smartphones, smart TVs, smartwatches, vehicles and more. With all that being said, Richard Yu Chengdong claims that it only takes one or two days to port over existing Android apps to the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

Based on a statement by AndroidAuthority.com, Huawei is currently developing their own 'Google Maps replacement' called the Map Kit. However, it seems that the Map Kit isn’t developed with consumers in mind. Instead, it caters more towards developers who want to integrate mapping capabilities onto their Harmony OS applications.