Android Apps and News

One of my favorite music streaming apps on Android is Songza for tablets (formerly Songza HD) because it factors in actual humans to craft music playlists rather than rely on algorithms. If you remember from my review of the tablet app, it’s well-built and incredibly accurate for when you want to hear music for the right mood.

Songza is bringing the human touch to the phone by launching a new version with an all new design meant to have more in common with the Android 4.0+ UI conventions. The Holo-inspired design switches from the old style white-to-gray gradients and uses tabs and color schemes more familiar to the new style of Android. And to sweeten the pot, it’s added lockscreen controls for pausing and skipping songs.

The latest update adds Music Concierge, a feature that finds the playlist you need to hear at the right moment. Concierge looks at a user’s location, time of day, and day of the week to decide what song to play. A Saturday afternoon might call for energetic party music, but a mundane Monday morning might require a pick me up of happy songs you can listen to while at work. The service has recommendations within genre, so you can grab fun summer time indie music or fun summer time hip-hop music.

Songza is a free, ad-supported app available for Android 2.1 and higher. Download the app from Google Play to start streaming music to your phone, and check out the tablet version while you’re at it.

[Download from Google Play]

Note: The app update should be rolling out to users today. If you don’t see a Holo version on Google Play, return in an hour or two and check again.