Phandroid
Multiple user accounts coming soon to Android smartphones, will no longer be exclusive to tablets
A little over a year ago, Google took the wraps off of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and we were pleased to a few new smaller additions making their way into the update. One of the ones we were most excited about was the introduction of multiple user accounts with restricted profiles. This allowed users to set up their Android device with a main account, restricting apps or other usage for secondary accounts on the device (perfect for those of us with kids). There was only one problem: this was exclusively an Android tablet feature, leaving smartphone users out in the cold.
Here we are, quite a few Android updates later and it seems someone at Google has been listening. In a response to a user requesting multiple user accounts make their way to Android smartphones (issue 1017), a Google Project Member chimed in a few hours ago mentioning that the feature will indeed arrive in a future Android update, officially closing the issue. Success!
Unfortunately, the Googler failed to mention whether or not they were talking about a smaller maintenance release, or something a little bigger like Android L. In either case, you can rest assured knowing that multiple user accounts will be soon come baked into Android smartphones — you just gotta wait a bit longer. Let’s hope they figured out a way to make it similar to Apple’s family sharing feature in iOS 8.
Sony discontinues support for PlayStation Mobile on Android
PlayStation Mobile sounded like it’d evolve to be an awesome service back in 2011 when Sony Ericsson introduced the Xperia Play. A phone with a built-in gamepad that could play PlayStation classics? Sign us up! Except we only ever got a few games, the phone it launched on was underpowered (severely limiting the titles that Sony could port to it) and the service only ever supported a small subset of phones (including pretty much any decent Xperia phone and many of HTC’s flagships).
So where is it now? Dead. Well, dead for mobile, anyway. Sony has announced that they’ve only committed to keeping PlayStation Mobile available for current Android devices up to Android 4.4.2. While they say Android 4.4.3 or higher may work, they can’t guarantee it and they won’t be able to support folks who upgrade to newer versions of Android going further.
They’ve mentioned that they will no longer be bringing new content to the service for mobile phones, though users of PlayStation TV and PlayStation Vita will be in for consistent treats from here on out. That said you can still access and download the games you’ve already bought any time you’d like, just don’t expect to be surprised by any new additions. Sad, but hey — we hear Android gaming is doing pretty well these days. There should be more than enough in the Google Play Store to keep you busy.
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