Tech Talk

You can now prioritize either battery life or performance while playing on Google's latest flagship phones. What you need to know Google Play now lists games that are compatible with the game modes in Android 12. The most recent update appears to be limited to the Google Pixel 6 series. Game mode lets you run your phone in battery saver or performance mode while playing, depending on your needs. Google has taken mobile gaming to a new level with the release of Android 12 , which includes a slew of new features that enhance your gaming experience. Game dashboard is one of those features, and it is now available on the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. The Google Play Store's Games tab now features a dedicated carousel at the top with titles optimized for the Pixel 6 series, as spotted by 9to5Google . When you tap a compatible title, a floating bubble will appear, allowing you to open the Game dashboard overlay, where you can access the main optimization options. However,

Give the gift of Google Play and give a little extra for free. If you're stuck for gift ideas going into the holidays, you can never go wrong with gift cards. Even more so in 2020 as we spend more time distanced from our friends and family. And so this early Black Friday promotion from Amazon UK can certainly help out by giving you up to 10% credit for free on top of the purchase of a £50 Google Play gift card. Google Play gift card | Get £5 free credit at Amazon UK $50 at Amazon UK Get £5 additional free credit to spend in the Google Play Store with the purchase of a £50 gift card, a nice 10% additional bonus as we enter the holiday season. The credit will be applied to any purchase over £4.99 in value from the Google Play Store once the code has been redeemed, and is good for apps, games, movies, TV shows and books as well as any in-app purchases and subscriptions. If you can buy it in the Google Play Store you can use the money from this gift card towards it. Bette

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry is as hot as ever, with a  record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019, according to App Annie’s “State of Mobile” annual report. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps, delivered on a weekly basis. This week we’re continuing to look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world of mobile applications, including new details about Apple and Google’s contact tracing API to be released to developers, how app makers are angling for a piece of video calling

Google is hoping the release of Android Wear 2.0 will push more people toward smartwatches, and one of the key pillars of that strategy is Android Pay.  Ahead of the launch, it has (perhaps accidentally) released some screenshots on the Play Store that show how it'll work and look. At supported retailers with an Android Pay or contactless logo, you simply hold your NFC-equipped Android Wear watch next to the terminal until it's approved. It'll then detail the latest transaction in a list, and you can scroll to see your recent history. In other words, you'll get the ability to pay like a boss from your wrist instead of digging around for your phone, a feature Apple Watch and Samsung Gear S3 Watch users have had for a while now. However, there's a catch -- your smartwatch must have an NFC chip, and no current models do, so current owners are out of luck. Thanks to a leak, however, we know that LG and Google are set to release two models, the L