Google Drive has received an update for iOS 8, which includes security and optimization features. Chief among them is Drive’s new ability to utilize the Touch ID fingerprint sensor on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3.

Drive can now use Touch ID to unlock the contents of your cloud storage adding another level of security to your documents and files. Read more »

Continuing a recent trend, HTC has published yet another of its apps on the Google Play Store. We’re talking built-in apps which normally come preinstalled on the company’s devices, such as the One (M8) flagship. And the latest app to be made available in the Play Store is HTC Weather.

It does exactly what you’d expect it to – show you weather information and forecasts (up to seven days in advance), with details about temperature, humidity, real-feel temperature, wind speed, visibility, as well as sunrise and sunset times. Read more »

Microsoft announced today a preview for its Office for Android tablets, while also updating the suite’s iPad and iPhone apps.

Android tablet owners can opt-in to participate by filling out a short survey. Eligible users should be using an Android tablet running Android 4.4 KitKat with a size between 7″ and 10.1″. Read more »

Sony has committed to bringing Android 5.0 Lollipop to its Xperia Z family and today it revealed the first step – an early development version of the new OS running the Xperia Z1, Z2 and Z3.

The software is not suitable for daily use, but will give developers a chance to start working on their projects sooner. Read more »

With dropping prices for mobile data and faster speeds with increasing LTE coverage, Opera Mini and its compression technology has been fading in recent years. Opera is still kicking around though and it just released Mini version 9 for iOS with what the team thinks is a compelling feature – video compression.

Currently 53% of the global mobile data is taken up by streaming videos, so it’s a big market. Read more »

Going forward you will know when people have read your WhatsApp messages. An stealthy update to the popular messenger brought the nifty feature onboard.

The new trick is as simple as its gets. Read more »

The latest Google app to get its Material Design makeover is Maps. The search giant has announced the redesigned app for both Android and iOS, with the rollout going on “over the next few days”.

According to Google, Material Design brings with it brighter colors and a fresh look that creates surfaces and shadows that mimic the real world, while layers and buttons “come to life” so you know just where to touch to get directions or recommendations. Read more »

Dropbox and Microsoft have announced that they’ve teamed up to make your mobile productivity experience better on iOS and Android. Soon the Dropbox app will work with Microsoft’s Office apps for the aforementioned platforms, and viceversa.

You’ll be able to edit Office files from the Dropbox app as well as sync changes across your devices. All edits will be automatically saved to your Dropbox. Read more »

Google has updated the Gmail app for Android to version 5.0 and has completely overhauled it, both visually and under the hood. The new app sports a user interface abiding to the Material Design standards, even on pre-5.0 devices.

The big functional change is that the Gmail app now supports 3rd party email accounts with POP and IMAP. This means you can add your Outlook, Yahoo or custom work email without any problems and eliminate the need for a separate app. Read more »

Amazon increased the price of its Prime service early this year but it keeps adding new features to make it worth the $100 a year. The latest addition is that Prime members get unlimited photo storage for free.

Photos go in the Amazon Cloud Drive where they can be viewed on various smart devices – from smartphones to certain Smart TVs from Samsung and LG and, of course, through Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Read more »

Google has commenced pushing Android 5.0 Lollipop source code to the Android Open Source Project repository. In addition to the actual source code, the company has also updated the documentation behind it. It outlines all the changes that developers need to make in order to successfully build the latest version of Android for themselves.

Going under the title “lollipop-release”, the AOSP Lollipop version sports a build number LRX21M and a lot of hardware is covered in the device-specific repositories. We’re happy to see the first-generation Nexus 7 there. Read more »

Microsoft is discontinuing the Nokia brand for its smartphones and is in the process of renaming Nokia-branded apps to “Lumia”. Some apps have already been rebadged but for some it’s a little harder – Nokia Cinemagraph used to host shared images on memories.nokia.com, but that’s shutting down and “memories” will be deleted come January.

Cinemagraphs stored on your phone will not be affected but if you have any on the Nokia site you’ll have to manually download a copy. Read more »

The Google Calendar app for Android is the latest to get filled with Material Design. But its newest update is also packing a few new features, so it’s not all about the looks.

The new app is available today on Android 5.0 Lollipop – or, specifically, on the HTC Nexus 9 tablet, which so far is the only device to run the latest version of the OS. The app will, however, work on all devices running Android 4.1 or later. It’s expected to make its way to the Google Play Store “in the coming weeks”. Read more »

We have seen the 5.0 version of Gmail app for Android a while back. The app has already been included in Android Lollipop update but those of us who are still on KitKat and older versions of Android can now get the 5.0 update, albeit through a leaked APK.

Android Police has managed to get their hands on the APK and uploaded it for the rest of us. Read more »

BlackBerry’s Messenger app has received an update today, which brings with it two new features. Timed Messages allows you to set a timer when sending a message. When that expires, the message you sent will disappear from the BBM chat.

With Message Retraction, you can ‘take back’ something you sent – after the fact. The message disappears from the chat for the person you sent it to as soon as you retract it. Read more »