Skip to main content

Android Music 3.0 app with cloud streaming leaked

Android-Music-3
Image used with permission by copyright holder

What seemed like a failed Android update for the folks at TechFrom10 has led to the discovery of new details about Google’s forthcoming cloud-based Android Music app.

“So on our Galaxy S Vibrant today we went to do a routine update of apps from the Android Market, only to discover that, for a completely unknown and frankly bizarre reason, our Android Market is now suddenly the test version we assume is loaded on Android developer’s devices,” writes Tim Schiesser at TechFrom10.

Recommended Videos

This inexplicable glitch gave Schiesser access to the developer’s version of the Android Market, which in turn allowed him to download a test version of Android Music 3.0.

The app is said to be similar to the Android Music app found on Android 3.0 Honeycomb (as well as the previously leaked version), but with additional, cloud-connected features. According to Schiesser, the new music app is “far better than the current music player in Android 2.3.”

Despite the praise, the app isn’t actually fully functional. In other words, there isn’t any music yet to stream due to the fact that Google is still negotiating the terms with the music industry to allow for streaming distribution.

From what we can determine from the test build, however, Android Music 3.0 will allow users to either download tracks or stream them directly from the Google cloud. The app also allows users to choose a WiFi-only mode, to keep from using up large amounts of precious data.

The update to Android Music appears to be a direct answer to the cloud-based streaming and storage service recently debuted by Amazon. Any music downloaded through Amazon is stored on the company’s cloud for free, and can be instantly streamed from either the web or through Amazon’s Android app. Music can also be uploaded to the cloud for streaming access, which costs customers about $1 per gigabyte for storage.

While Amazon’s service is groundbreaking, it still has a lot of bugs to fix before it can achieve any type of mainstream success. This means Google should have an easy time surpassing its one and only competition.

Apple is also rumored to have a cloud-based service in the works, though it is not yet clear whether it will include music-streaming capabilities, at least in for the near future.

Anyone interested in checking out Android Music 3.0 in its test stage, click here to download.

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Affordable phone with no camera bump? This could be it
Google Pixel 9a renders.

It has been a busy week for news regarding the Google Pixel 9a. More information about its design surfaced just days after the likely colors for the new budget phone leaked.

In exclusive news, Android Headlines has released official renders of the new phone, which is expected to be announced on Wednesday, February 17 in just one week. The images reveal that the rear camera system on the Pixel 9a is designed to be flush with the back of the phone. This contrasts with the other Google Pixel 9 series models, such as the Pixel Pro XL, which feature a protruding camera bar.

Read more
Is the Galaxy S25 Ultra zoom the best? I tested it and it’s close
The back of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The year was 2020, the month was February and Samsung had just kicked off yet another smartphone generation. The Galaxy S20 Ultra brought a lot of new features to the market, but crucially, Samsung’s marketing also made long zoom features and Ultra branding extremely desirable.

One of the key reasons to buy the Galaxy S20 Ultra — and subsequent Ultra phones from Samsung — was the camera. It featured a 108MP main sensor, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 48MP periscope telephoto camera that offered 4x optical zoom and 10x hybrid zoom. The latter also enabled the new 100X Space Zoom feature, which Samsung still promotes on its Ultra phones today.

Read more
Military & intel personnel location data sold by apps
Information Security with mouse cursor on screen for Social-Engineering LLC article - Pexels

Enabling location data on mobile devices provides many advantages for smart device users. However, this location information is a valuable asset that can be misused if it falls into the wrong hands. A recent media investigation uncovered some troubling findings for individuals worried about security.

The investigation, headed by Wired, 404 Media, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), and Netzpolitik.org, analyzed a free location data sample by Florida-based Datastream. From this information, the group was able to determine that the data contained information from American military and intelligence personnel overseas—including at German airbases believed to store U.S. nuclear weapons. Until recently, however, it wasn’t known where Datastream acquired this information.

Read more