Super Mario Run has already proven to be more popular than Pokemon Go

On its first day of release, Super Mario Run raked in $5 million off five million installs, according to a new report from mobile app insights firm Sensor Tower. These figures put it ahead of even Pokemon Go in terms of first day performance, although it must be noted that Pokemon Go was only available in select regions at first, and that Super Mario Run has only seen an iOS release so far.

See also:

15 best Android games of 2016

2 weeks ago

However, with a Super Mario Run Android release coming in 2017, the game definitely stands a good chance of toppling Pokemon Go as the most downloaded and highest grossing game of all time. Nintendo's first real mobile game (not including Miitomo) was always going to be a hit, and with Mario at the helm the game was guaranteed a lot of launch day attention, just as Pokemon Go was.

Analysts have already predicted that Super Mario Run will see 50 million installs in its first month of release, which will only be on iOS devices due to Nintendo's exclusivity agreement with Apple. But when the game eventually lands on Android the install rate will explode.

As it stands, you can only play the first level for free in Super Mario Run, after which you're required to pay $9.99 to unlock the remaining levels. For Mario fans, this is not even a question. Sensor Tower estimates roughly 10 percent of players will eventually pay to unlock the full game.

But the game's requirement for a constant Wi-Fi connection has irritated many players. Only those with unlimited data plans can really justify playing on a data connection, with others losing out on a truly mobile game. Likewise, the game's arguably over-simple mechanics – Mario runs by himself and leaps small enemies and obstacles automatically – has upset more than a few players looking for something a little more complex.

But as we've seen before, simple games can often be just as popular as advanced titles, and Super Mario Run is already the most downloaded app in over 80 countries, despite some initial hiccups. Sensor Tower predicts that around 30 million iOS users registered to be notified of the game's release, but that in many cases the notifications took several hours to appear and several countries had delayed launches, affected its first day totals.

At this rate it looks like Super Mario Run will meet the expectations placed on it for near-term performance but it will only be when the game is available on Android as well that it will witness its true potential. Install numbers will soar, but we'll have to see just how many Android owners are willing to fork over ten bucks and how many will attempt to circumvent Nintendo's paywall and need for a constant data connection.

When do you think we'll see Super Mario Run on Android? Would you pay $9.99 for the full game?

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Samsung offers exclusive Galaxy Game Pack for S7/S7 Edge owners

To show Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners some pre-holiday love this year, Samsung is offering a free Galaxy Game Pack, featuring exclusive in-game benefits on 14 popular games. The company has teamed up with developers like Ubisoft, EA, Gameloft, Super Evil Megacorp and flaregames to offer free coins, cards, credits, items and more.

Interestingly, the in-game offers are all being handled through the Google Play Store, not Galaxy Apps, although there are also several game discounts going on there currently too. Take a look at the video below to see what's included and head below for the install links.

There's nothing special you need to do either, just hit the links below on your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge (Samsung doesn't mention the S7 Active for some reason) and you'll get free items in the game.

• Genies and Gems
• Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
• Marvel Contest of Champions
• Hungry Shark World
• Asphalt 8: Airborne
• Plants vs Zombies Heroes
• Need for Speed: No Limits

• Hearthstone
• HIT
• Clash of Kings
• Empire: Four Kingdoms
• Vainglory
• Nonstop Knight
• Olympus Rising

If you're looking for some other great games to play on your S7 (or any other device for that matter), take a look at the best Android games of 2016 and the best free Android games of 2016. While you're at it, why not check out the most Googled games of the year to see what you might have missed out on.

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More BlackBerry phones beyond the Mercury might feature QWERTY keyboards

A quick recap: BlackBerry CEO John Chen promised one last "in-house" BlackBerry phone with a QWERTY keyboard in 2016. BlackBerry's last QWERTY phone is rumored to be the BlackBerry Mercury. But BlackBerry recently sold its branding rights to TCL, with most folks understanding Chen's remarks to mean BlackBerry devices under TCL wouldn't have QWERTY keyboards. So why is a TCL exec tweeting about revolutionary QWERTY keyboards on "the new BlackBerry"?

See also:

BlackBerry's signature keyboard to be given one last hurrah

November 11, 2016

Steve Cistulli, president and general manager of TCL in North America, tweeted yesterday with the hashtag #TheNewBlackBerry and a reference to a revolutionary typewriter from 1878 that introduced the Shift key to the QWERTY keyboard. It was a big deal at the time and had far-reaching implications we still appreciate today. But if TCL plans to ditch QWERTY keyboards in its 2017 BlackBerry phones, why would its president be tweeting such misleading information?

Remington No. 2 of 1878 #TheNewBlackBerry

— Steve Cistulli (@SteveCistulli) December 16, 2016

While no one ever actually came out and officially said the QWERTY keyboard was going bye-bye under TCL, you could be forgiven for making that assumption. Both BlackBerry Android phones we've seen this year – the DTEK60 and DTEK50 – have been rebranded phones made by TCL: the TCL 950 and Alcatel Idol 4. Neither of them have a physical keyboard.

But then again, the Remington 2 was important not so much for its QWERTY keyboard, which had already been introduced on the Remington 1, but for adding the Shift key to it – massively popularizing the product.

So could it be possible that TCL has something else in mind rather than just continuing to include a physical keyboard on BlackBerry phones? Something potentially as revolutionary as the introduction of the Shift key?

Only time will tell, but for now our fingers are itching to find out how we'll be typing on BlackBerry phones in 2017. TCL will be revealing more details at CES 2017. Stay tuned.

Would you like to see more physical keyboards on Android phones? Any ideas what else Cistulli's tweet might mean?

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The Gboard formerly known as Google Keyboard is now in Google Play

Update December 17: Gboard is now officially live in Google Play, meaning you can install/update it fresh without having to wait for the v6.0 update to come to you. Just hit the install button at the bottom of the post and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Back in May 2016, Google brought an awesome new app called Gboard to iOS, giving users the ability to perform Google searches right inside the keyboard app. Google promised Gboard would someday make its way to Android, and we're happy to say that day has finally arrived.

Instead of coming to the Play Store as a standalone app, Gboard actually takes the place of Google Keyboard in the new version 6.0 update.

So what does the Gboard update bring to the table? The biggest addition to the app is something called the 'G button', which can be enabled in the app's settings menu. When you're in the middle of typing, just tap the button to open up a search card. You can then perform a Google search for whatever you'd like, and also share those results. This will certainly come in handy for many folks out there, as it essentially eliminates the need to leave your current app to look up information.

That's not all, though. The Gboard update also allows users to enable a dedicated, full-size number row, which you can see in the second screenshot above.

And for folks who speak multiple languages, you'll be happy to hear that the Gboard update brings multi-language support. Now you'll be able to type in up to three different languages without having to manually switch between modes. So if you happen to speak Spanish with some of your friends but English with your family, this process should now be much more seamless.

Oh, and now when you tap on the G button, a small menu pops up with quick access to themes, one-handed mode and the settings menu. Previously, you'd need to long-press on the comma to get to the settings menu. This is certainly a much quicker way to change your keyboard's settings.

We've also noticed Gesture typing has been renamed to Glide typing. A small change, but still worth noting.

Other than those key differences, the keyboard still functions the exact same way as it always has. It's just a lot smarter now. The company still has yet to reveal an official changelog for this update, so we might find more goodies after that happens. We'll be sure to update this post with more information.

The big version 6.0 update is now available in the Play Store.

Download Gboard from Google Play

Next:

The best Android keyboards

May 2, 2016

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Chrooma Keyboard beta uses neural network for improved accuracy

Chrooma Keyboard has long been one of our favorite keyboards, and it seems it's going to get even better in the future: the beta version of the keyboard is now powered by a neural network, much like SwiftKey, which should improve predicting what you're about to type.

See also:

10 best Android keyboards

May 2, 2016

SwiftKey incorporated this technology earlier this year, and it essentially looks at the context of your sentence to suggest words. Instead of looking at two previous words to guess what you want to say, the neural network considers the entire sentence and uses its vast data to more accurately predict words.

An example would be previously, if you wrote "Meet me at the," the keyboard would look at the last two words, "at the," and suggest words like "moment," which isn't particularly useful. Now, with the neural network, the keyboard will look at every word of the sentence and realize it's most likely a location that you want. So it'll give you words like "office," "airport," etc. instead. Along with that, the beta version of Chrooma Keyboard will detect words and try to give you appropriate emojis, which is extremely useful since finding the right emoji among mountains of them can be a little tedious at times. The beta version also offers GIF searching as well as the ability to access recent images and voice input.

Along with that, the beta version of Chrooma Keyboard will detect words and try to give you appropriate emojis, which is extremely useful.

Although it's not certain that all these features will appear in the official release, I personally do hope so. If you are registered as an early tester, you can click this link to download the beta, but if not, the APK is available through here.

Which keyboard do you use on your smartphone? Which is your favorite and why? Let us know by leaving a comment down below!

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The maker of the ‘$4 smartphone’ denies it is shutting down

The continuing saga of the company behind the so-called "$4 smartphone" took a new turn this week. Ringing Bells, the India-based company behind the ultra cheap Freedom 251 handset, is denying published reports that it is shutting down.

See also:

First 30,000 Freedom 251 phones paid for

February 25, 2016

The reports are based on the fact that the founders of Ringing Bells launched an all new company, MDM Electronics Private Limited, earlier in December. Also, the official website for Ringing Bells has not been live for the past couple of months. However, Gadgets Now received a statement this week from a Ringing Bells spokesperson, stating that MDM is a separate company with its own goals. The spokesperson called the rumors of Ringing Bells' shutdown "false"and added that the company is "very well in the market" and "operating as earlier".

However, the spokesperson did admit that the company's CEO Dharna Goel has now resigned, and that Anmol Goel, one of its founding directors, is now currently running the company.

Ringing Bells got a ton of media coverage when it revealed it would sell the Android-based Freedom 251 for just Rs 251, or a mere $4 in US dollars. However, this week the Ringing Bells spokesperson stated that the company has only shipped 70,000 units of the phone to parts of India. That's well below a previous statement that claimed it would ship a whopping 2.5 million units by the end of June 2016.

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Lenovo planning another Tango-enabled device for 2017

The Lenovo Phab 2 Pro was released just recently, and it received quite mixed reviews, especially related to its design. The device features an oddly placed fingerprint sensor, as well as a wide array of depth sensing cameras sitting above, making it look to be more of a project device than a consumer one. One could argue however, that that is exactly what it is.

The device is part of an initiative by Google called Project Tango, which hopes to use specialized sensors to map 3D spaces for medical use, augmented reality, and more. Lenovo's offering was the first device to launch with the technology, but it says it won't be the last. The company had 6,000 developers purchase the device online and at events since the launch, which gives Lenovo hope that the product category will grow even more in the future.

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro

Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Project Tango Factory Unlocked GSM 64GB

General Manager of Android and Chrome at Lenovo, Jeff Merideth recently mentioned that since other companies will be working on new Tango phones for the 2017 year, it only makes sense for Lenovo to do the same. He mentions that since they have already made their first device, if they can make a second generation while others are creating their initial offering, they should be quite a bit ahead of the game.

While there are only about 36 Tango-capable apps in the Play Store at the moment, 2017 will likely see a huge influx, especially if the company starts seeing some competition. While the device can do cool things like play augmented reality games, its true capabilities lie in the depth sensing technology, which should allow very precise mapping of rooms, leading to indoor google maps, blind-aided applications, and more.

Have you tried out the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro? Are you looking forward to more Tango phones in 2017? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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