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The recent update to Google Now has just made one of the nicer Jelly Bean features -- offline voice recognition -- available for third party developers to use, and voice command app utter! is the first to take advantage of this feature. Utter! is positioning itself to help accomplish most anything that could normally be done by a default Google Voice Search and go beyond that to then let you control other device functions outside of the scope of Google's own offering.

Hang with us after the break to see what utter! brings to the table in its current beta state.

The interface isn't too pretty or intuitive, but utter! is in beta after all. Luckily, there's a great tutorial that will talk you through pretty much everything from the start. It will start talking you through the menus, pane by pane, and even switch to the relevant screens automatically as it goes. Not only is it useful from the standpoint of understanding where all of the settings are, but it also has you go through a few different commands to get a feeling for how well the app is recognizing your voice and how to activate everything.

Once you've walked through the tutorial and had the device learn your name and check to see if its recognizing your voice properly, it's off to the races. The main settings menu gives you a list of commands that are available to you, but you can easily learn what it's capable of by just asking it basic questions. You activate utter! by tapping the persistent notification in the notification bar, at which point it'll make a sound and start "listening" for your input. Make a query, and you'll receive an audible response quickly. The whole idea of utter! is to not only let you give audible commands, but to also receive audible responses -- something that other apps usually only do half of.

One set of queries that sets utter! apart is that it can handle device functions -- such as toggling Wifi, Bluetooth or mobile data -- as well as integrate with other apps. Once utter! is connected to other apps, you can have it post a Facebook status, compose a tweet or check in on Foursquare, among others. Things like "What's the weather like?" and "What's todays date?" are also included, and are carry-over commands that can already be answered by Google Voice Search baked into Android.

Speaking of Android's built-in Voice Search, utter! is the first app that is taking advantage of the newly-available offline voice recognition that was built into Android 4.1. With the latest update to Google Now, the offline voice recognition is now available to any app that wants it, and utter! uses that to bring much of the voice processing offline. This should help with response times in bad signal (or no signal) areas and generally improve the app's overall responsiveness. Most who have been using the Jelly Bean keyboard or Google Now have already downloaded the required speech package -- which is only about 20MB for English -- and utter! can use it right away.

There's an absolutely crazy number of settings available in utter! that can actually get a bit overwhelming. Fortunately most are basically configured out of the box if you just want to get moving with it. The developer notes that the interface does need some improvements and tweaking, and this is all just cosmetic. The settings get you where you want to go and provide the granular control if you're interested in tweaking as well.

Overall, we see some great potential in what utter! is doing here. The idea of having an app that is ready to both listen and also reply audibly to your commands at any time is a compelling one. As utter! continues to be developed and eventually exits beta, we could definitely see it picking up even more users.

If you've got an Android phone or tablet that's got Android 4.2.x and you're not using DashClockWidget, you are, quite frankly, doing it wrong. And the app that turns the Jelly Bean lock screen widgets into more than just wishful thinking -- by the way, it's already in the 50,000 to 100,000 download range, and we'd be willing to bet it's on the high end of that -- got an update to version 1.2 today, bringing with it a number of improvements.

First up are some new visual tweaks, allowing for custom opacity, as well as the ability to center the clock. You also can assign application shortcuts to the weather and clock widgets. Nice. Then there's the addition of extensions for missed calls and new text messages. Or perhaps you'd be interested in support for French, German, Spanish and Russian. Use Microsoft Exchange for your calendar? It's now supported. Some of this is tucked into a new "advanced" menu, so dive into the settings to see the new features.

It's that time of the week again where we bring you our weekly app picks, direct from the Android Central writers. This time each week we do our best to give you a look at an app that we're using and enjoying on our devices from day to day.

Stick around after the break and see how we did with our picks this week.

Simon Sage - Vector

Vector is a highly-polished side-scrolling parkour racing game that just came out this week. Players run from Big Brother in style over rooftops, unlocking new swipe-based free-running techniques as they go. Stages have a handful of bonus objectives to pick up, but be careful to not slow down - the taser-toting authorities arent far behind. Vector slaps a few ads in between each level unless you pay $0.99 for the deluxe edition (which also has a few other extra goodies). Players can also buy coins through in-app purchases to unlock special maneuvers early.

If you like the Canabalt style, but are looking for a bit more complexity, Vector is a safe bet.

Download: Vector (Free)

Sean Brunett - Buzzfeed

Im a Buzzfeed fan, i enjoy the lists they they put together. Some are hilarious, some smart and some are just plain odd. The dedicated Android app makes their lists quick to access and easy to view. The app lists the latest compilations, with a menu button in the upper left that allows you to sort by topic, view which have gone viral or Buzzfeeds own Hot List. If you enjoy one of the lists, you can share it or comment on it. Its a nice app that does a great job presenting Buzzfeed lists in a simple manner.

Download: Buzzfeed (Free)

Jerry Hildenbrand - ElectroDroid

If you're a field technician, an engineer, a lab tech, or even a hardcore do-it-yourself-er, you know the value of a good set of pocket reference materials. Often times we're not sitting at a computer where we have the answers at our fingertips, and carrying around texts and printed reference just isn't convenient. Thankfully, smart phones can help. When you're looking for that pocket reference for electrical theory and electronics, ElectroDroid should be your first stop.

The app has just about everything you would ever need for electronic design and repair. There are calculators for things like resonance and RC filter cut-off, frequency and decibel converters, pin-out diagrams for almost every type of common connector, and resources like resistor color codes and schematic symbol charts. If you're doing anything with wires or circuits, you'll find the tools and reference you need in ElectroDroid.

Download: ElectroDroid (Free); Paid Version ($2.69)

Richard Devine - mSecure

If there's one thing you shouldn't take for granted, it's passwords and security. With so much of our lives now entrusted to computers and smartphones, and so many services requiring an account, it's something we should all be mindful of. My old system wasn't really the best, and so I moved to mSecure. I confess I first picked this up as Amazon's free app of the day, but it's worth the outlay on both mobile and desktop.

I'd tried LastPass and didn't really enjoy it, and couldn't bring myself to pay the amount for OnePassword when in my opinion the Android experience is subpar. mSecure has both a solid Android experience and a solid desktop experience and has the added bonus of syncing using Dropbox, though naturally your data is encrypted. The usual password generation features are present, as is secure backup and a self destruct function should someone try and break in. There's also a nice option to eliminate the app window from the recent apps menu on Honeycomb upwards, though it's a shame the app was design with Gingerbread in mind. It's not a horrible experience though, but if I'm being picky a more 'Holo' oriented UI would be nice.

Desktop clients are available on Windows and Mac, and have a 30 day free trial option.

Download: mSecure ($9.99)

Andrew Martonik - DashClockWidget

I was a couple of days behind the curve on downloading DashClock Widget, and now I understand what everyone has been so excited about when using this app.The app in itself is useful and displays the time and date by default, and you can choose to also add the current weather, unread Gmail count, missed calls and a few other bits of information. But what's really exciting about this widget is that there's a system for other app developers to make "extensions" to integrate with DashClock. For example both Falcon Pro and Press have already made extensions, which can then show your unread tweet count or number of unread articles.

After using it as my primarylockscreenwidget, I seriously think that Google needs to be using this as a defaultlockscreenclock in Android. In the meantime, I'm excited to see what other apps write in extensions to integrate with DashClock as the app becomes more popular.

Download: DashClock Widget (Free)

Casey Rendon - Solid Explorer

A feature rich file explorer is a must for me. Not only can Solid Explorer browse your cloud storage (like Dropbox) and root-level files, but it uses a novel interface that not only looks great but also boosts functionality. When you rotate your device from portrait to landscape, you go from one list of files and folders to a dual pane layout of two lists. This allows you to easily move, copy and paste, etc. different files and folders from the left pane to the right pane or vice versa. This is especially satisfying on tablets, because you get to use all that right-hand space that many other file explorers leave empty. A 14-day free trial is available, and if you end up loving this app as much as I do you, can buy the unlocker for less than 2 bucks.

Download: Solid Explorer (Trial)

Happen to miss previous editions of our weekly app picks? You can check them out right here. Our continuing weekly app coverage can also be seen right here as well.

Skype is actively testing a new video messaging service with a "group of mobile and mac users" according to its official Twitter account today. The new feature, which doesn't require a new update to the mobile app, enables users to send video messages back and forth up to 3 minutes in length. If you've been selected to be part of this initial test, the option will be found under a contact's name in the "More" category, which now holds options to do video messages and send files. You get a basic video interface where you can press the record button to start, and when you're done hit the record button again to save and send the message.

The menu item clearly says "20 free video messages remaining", so we're going to assume that sending video messages is going to be a premium feature costing Skype credits going forward. Are you seeing the feature show up in the Skype app on your devices? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Skype (Twitter); Via: iMore

It's simple, it's stylish, and it chargers your phone wirelessly - it's also a little pricey at $59

There's really not a whole lot to say about the Nexus 4 Wireless Charger. It's a $59Qi-standardcompatiblewireless charger that charges your Nexus 4. Plug it in, put the phone on it, and go. No muss, no fuss, thank you, drive through. This one's made specifically for the Nexus 4, though presumably other Qi-standard phones will work with it. Unlike, say, the Palm Touchstone, this one relies less on magnets to keep phone in place on the inclined face of the charger and more on the tackiness of the face of the charger itself. The rubber of the charger meets the glass of the phone, and it's not going anywhere. (It is quick to collect dust and lint, though.)

Size-wise, this thing's about like a sawed-off tennis ball. Only less fuzzy, less yellow, and more likely to actually charge your phone. It very much look like it's in the same family as the spherical Nexus Q, but it's much smaller. (In fact, the whole package is smaller than we imagined.)

The wireless charger will kick on the new Daydreams feature -- just be sure to set it to do so while charging in the settings. (It might take a second to kick in.)

The charger comes with a microUSBcord and wall wart, and some quick instructions that you'll never need. Plug it in. Place the phone. Charge. A plus is that your standard TPU case appears to not keep the phone from charging, and the official Nexus 4 bumper doesn't hinder anything either. Because it's a bumper. (Your mileage may vary with other cases, of course.) It outputs at 1.0A, which Google says should take about 4 hours to charge from a dead start.

If you're just dying to see the Nexus 4 wireless charger in action -- which sounds more exciting than it really is -- we've got a brief bit of video after the break.

Our pals at EvLeaks are at it again, and this time they have dropped a picture of the HTC One in black. Notice that this time we see New York as the city, with the ominous date of Feb 19. Oddly enough, HTC has a little party going on in New York on February 19. Coincidence?

EvLeaks has always been pretty solid, and chances are we'll see something very similar to this come Tuesday. We'll be there, as well as the co-event in London for the dual-unveiling of whatever HTC wants to show us. That leaves one question -- white, or black?

Source: UnwiredView

Google this afternoon set up a Google Map deal where you can find retail locations that carry the Nexus 4. That's good. And long overdue. The one catch is that you can't actually tell if your nearest store has any in stock. You'll need to call ahead (or just show up, we suppose) to find out.

The other thing is that right now the only brick-and-mortar place to buy a Nexus 4 is T-Mobile. So basically you're looking at T-Mobile locations. But we have a feeling that Google setting up a proper retail search perhaps is a sign of things to come. Best Buy? Radio Shack? Let's hope we see them -- and other retail outlets -- added soon.

More: Google Nexus 4 retailer search