Sprint Now Supports Complete Carrier Billing in Google Play

Google has announced a series of expansions to carrier billing options for Play Store Apps, Movies, Books, and Music on various carriers. While some changes went into effect immediately, Sprint, which already allowed direct billing for apps, was one carrier that was listed as "coming soon."

As of today, all three additional options are available to Sprint customers: books, music, and movies. Not surprisingly, carrier billing is the default option since it's by far the cheapest to carriers and Google as they get to bypass credit card fees. While this addition doesn't benefit everyone, I can see a few handy uses for carrier billing:

• you don't own a credit card at all
• you don't want to add a credit card to your Wallet account for some reason, be it security, paranoia, or a medical condition that prevents you from typing 16 digits in a row (also known as laziness)
• you don't want to pollute your credit card statement with multiple charges
• you don't want your significant others with access to your credit card statement to see what you're doing

 Previously, only apps were supported.

New Features Included In Google Play Store Update

 

Not long after the Android Market turned into the Google Play Store, it's already getting its first update, which adds some nice additional functionality and features:

• There are now two tabs under My Apps: "Installed," which lists all currently installed apps on your device; and "All," which lists any apps you have ever installed, just like in the web version of Google Play. This includes all free and purchased apps that aren't uninstalled yet.
• There's now a dropdown menu with all Google accounts that are linked to your phone, making it much easier to switch between accounts.
• Several stock apps that never linked properly to the Play Store have now been fixed, meaning all stock apps will now receive updates properly, like they should.
• Reviews now show what device the reviewer is using, and can now be sorted by most helpful or newest.
• Additionally, reviews can be sorted to show only ones for the latest version of the app.

Google Announces ‘Google Play’ To Replace Android Market

Google on Tuesday announced “Google Play,” a cloud-based multimedia service for distributing and syncing apps and data across Android devices. The announcement comes on the heels of reports that numerous Google services haven’t performed up to expectations. With Google Play, users can store up to 20,000 songs for free, download more than 450,000 Android apps, browse Google’s selection of eBooks and rent thousands of movies. The service combines the Android Market, Google eBook store and Google Music into a single brand of cloud-based services. 

BlackBerry PlayBook Root Tool DingleBerry 3.0 Released

The BlackBerry PlayBook root is getting an update. DingleBerry 3.0 has been released with support for downgrader and to open up Hulu in both the Windows and Mac release.

If you have yet to root your BlackBerry PlayBook, you can view a how-to video on rooting and adding the Android Marketplace here.

•        Download DingleBerry3.0 for Windows or Mac

Google: Android 4.0 'Holo' theme is mandatory on all devices with Android Market

Google is rightfully proud of its native theme in Ice Cream Sandwich. Dubbed Holo, it's intuitive, functional and -- dare we say it -- downright sexy. Now, in an effort to provide all users with a consistent interface, the company is making the theme essential for all Android 4.0 devices that come bundled with the Android Market. That's right, the stock, undiluted experience. Don't be alarmed, though, because manufacturer customizations aren't going anywhere, and the changes aren't terribly drastic. In fact, for users of Sense, TouchWiz and the like, Google is issuing architectural mandates that will make it dead simple for independent developers to create apps that fit nicely into these customized environments, complete with the proper widgets and colors. In other words, app designers may effortlessly choose between Holo or the manufacturer's default theme when considering the software's interface. 

Android Market tops 400,000 apps

Google’s Android Market reportedly reached a new milestone over New Year’s weekend, surpassing 400,000 available applications for the first time. Mobile app watcher Distimo on Tuesday reported the feat, which it says was accomplished in about the same amount of time that it took Apple’s App Store — both on-device software catalogs reportedly took approximately 40 months to pass the 400,000-app mark. Distimo notes that the pace at which the Android Market is growing has accelerated recently; the Market took 31 months to reach 200,000 apps, but it needed only four more months to reach 300,000 apps and another five months to pass 400,000 available apps. The report also states that developers are embracing the Android platform more quickly than ever before as well, and Google now has more than 100,000 publishers with an average of 4.1 apps each in the Market. Comparatively, Apple’s App Store is currently home to more than 530,000 apps according to third-party monitor AppShopper. 

Android Market update 3.3.11 has NFC support

Three days after the launch of Google Music and the Market's server-side changes, a new version of the Android Market has started to roll out. So far the only change that's visible over version 3.3.11 is the addition of the permission requirement for near field communication (NFC), which allows phones to send data directly to another device nearby.

It does not look like they've changed anything visually or functionally with the Market yet, but this could be the start of being able to use it to pay for non-Market goods via NFC (e.g., swipe your phone at a gas pump, enter a code, paid).

Likely the first things we'll see from this in the Market will be NFC for Google Music purchases: purchase music then transfer a one-time-listen to your friends, but it could also be used to transfer extremely large multiplayer Market games between phones without involving data charges.

As with all Android Market updates, there's no telling when you're going to get it. You can wait and it will probably just update sometime in the future, or you can download the new version from here. It's properly signed by Google, so non-rooted people should have no issues with installing and updating it.

How to Force update Android Market for music downloads

I have a Samsung Nexus S 4G, HTC EVO, LG Marquee and Samsung Galaxy Tab 7". 


If you go to menu>settings>applications>manage applications>all>search Market and click on the Market>choose "clear data">go to the home screen and re-open the Android Market you will now see the option for downloading music.


Happy listening!!!