October 2010 Archives

Oct

Android Absolutely Destroys Apple, Microsoft, Palm, And Blackberry In WSJ's "Who Makes The Best Mobile OS" Poll

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Off-Topic

Last week, the Wall Street Journal posted a public poll asking its readers to pick the best mobile operating system maker. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Palm, RIM/Blackberry, and Other were valid options, with Apple leading at about 55% at the time. Noticing this, Android Police along with reddit and other media publications issued a call to action:

The next day, Android and Apple traded places, and the former started leading by a small margin.

Fast forward a week, and I decided to check back with the poll to see how it is doing... I will just leave the following here ...

Oct

Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone Is Real, Looks Just Like Renders & Packs Some Solid Hardware

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

Remember that Sony Ericsson PlayStation phone we heard about back in August? Turns out it's not only real, but a prototype is out and about in the wild - and Engadget has landed themselves some surprisingly clear and detailed pictures of the device. Better still, it looks pretty close to the renders we saw in August - surprising, given the track record for Android rumors.

Between the PlayStation moniker and the slide-out gamepad, I think it's pretty clear that this beastie will be marketed as a gaming phone. In support of that fact, word has it that the phone will ...

Oct

Tip: Launcher Pro And ADW Users - Drag And Hold Your Apps Over The Trashcan To Quickly Uninstall Them

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Mods, Tips

Today's tip is common sense to those Launcher Pro/ADW users who are aware of it and pure bliss to those who aren't. Normally, if you drag an icon on your homescreen to the trashcan, the icon simply gets removed from the given homescreen. However, if you keep holding it over the basket, the action turns into "Drop to uninstall," becoming the fastest way to remove apps that I can think of. To sweeten things up a bit, you can also drag icons into the basket from the launcher, achieving the same murderous effect. It literally takes 1 click to get ...

Oct

Barnes & Noble Announces NOOKcolor: 7" IPS Goodness In A $250 Package

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Barnes & Noble, Devices By Manufacturer, News, Nook, NOOKcolor (Encore)

Building on the strength of the growing e-Reader market, bookstore giant Barnes & Noble has just formally unveiled its latest device: the NOOKcolor. Rumoured for some time now, but never offering much in the way of solid details, the covers are now off this full-color touchscreen device.

Hard internal specs are still few and far between, but in the case of an e-Reader one thing matters most: the screen. Thankfully B&N has seen fit to equip the NOOKcolor with a high resolution 1024x600 7" IPS display. This "In-Plane Switching" technology, often found in professional computer monitors, trumps the S-LCD of ...

Oct

T-Mobile Set To Launch A $15 Tethering Add-On On November 3rd

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Carriers, News, T-Mobile

It could only last so long. Boy Genius Report received a tip today that T-Mobile USA is making preparations to follow other carriers' foot steps and is going to start charging for tethering on November 3rd. The $14.99 monthly plan is a surcharge on top of an obligatory $19.99 Unlimited Web plan, so don't go thinking you can replace one with the other.

T-Mobile was once praised for turning a blind eye to device tethering and portable WiFi hotspot functionality, but times are tough, so what better way to make money than charging customers for the same data twice? As ...

Oct

Google Adds Android App Search To The Google.com Mobile Interface

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

~~I'm not sure exactly how recently Google has done this~~ (update: apparently, it's been a few months, thanks Brad), but there is a tab in the mobile search interface called "Android Apps." I'll give you 3 tries to guess what it does.

Clicking on each result pops open the Market app and works exactly as you would expect. The interface does show the star rating to help weed out the crapola, the price, the company name, and the number of reviews. In the future, it would be totally sweet to see an Install button integrated as ...

Oct

Ireland Starts Receiving The Latest HTC Android Phones: Desire HD On Vodafone, Meteor Soon To Get Desire HD And Desire Z

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, News

While the UK has had the Desire HD since early last week, the EVO look-a-like model and its sibling are only starting to trickle into Irish stores. Currently Vodafone appears to be the only carrier offering one of the new Desires, with the Desire HD available on pre-pay for €479 or €229 on an 18 month €35 contract. However, many Irish Android users appear to be holding out for their network of choice, Meteor, to announce the Desire HD and to a lesser extent the Desire Z.

Today Meteor released a press statement indicating that an end to that torturous ...

Oct

Slick UI Wants To Be The Next Game Changer In Android UIs, Looks Plenty Original

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

One of the reasons I love Android is because you can customize the heck out of your experience. Replacing the stock launcher with Launcher Pro is pretty much the first thing I do now when I get a new phone because of the innovations a hard-working, smart, and dedicated engineer (Fede) can bring to the table.

However, Launcher Pro is not too much different from the stock UI, outside of tweaks and other little but important things - same goes for ADW and other home replacements. Because of that, I get especially excited when I see some outside ...

Oct

Meet Clockr: Replace Your Clock With Pure Text

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, Mods, News

Yesterday, developer and XDA member zehro released his minimalist clock app, clockr. The app is actually a widget - and it really is as simple as it sounds: it's a pure-text clock.

At the moment, there are no customization options for the widget - that's coming at some point - but it looks like user hollywooder has been hard at work creating alternate themes for the clock. The upside is that there's a degree of variability in usage; the obvious downside is that you need to download and flash an .APK to change the colors.

Nevertheless, it's a ...

Oct

Android Community Keeps Growing - Reddit.com’s Android SubReddit Now 20,000 Strong!

Posted by Android Police Team in News, Off-Topic

Dear /r/android,

We couldn't help noticing that as of a few minutes ago, the Andreddit community reached a nice, healthy, round number 20,000. What this means is 20,000 of you clicked the little button from your reddit accounts and are regularly getting Android stories mixed into your front page.

You have helped a lot with our continued growth and have proven yourself as a great source of news, readership, and participation. In fact, some of you even went as far as joining our ranks - Brad Ganley and Brett Gmoser, we're looking at you (the door is always ...

Oct

T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Seeing An Official Launch On November 3

Posted by Nate Kimmey in myTouch 4G (Glacier), News, T-Mobile

Just a few days after the original myTouch 3G finishes receiving the Froyo update over-the-air, its direct successor with an independently confirmed to us myTouch 4G name (not HD) will be officially released. While the November 3 date has been rumored for some time, we now have official confirmation through a leaked internal e-mail:

The HSPA+ handset comes with a 5 megapixel camera, 3.8" display, front-facing camera, 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, and the Espresso UI all on top of Android 2.2. There are still no answers regarding pricing or the burning question on the community's mind is: how easily ...

Oct

Sprint, Verizon, WiFi-Only Versions Of The Samsung Galaxy Tab Headed To Best Buy

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung

Well it looks like Sprint's announcement earlier today wasn't the only piece of news headed the 7-inch slate of glory's way; Pocketables has received a screenshot indicating that Best Buy too will be carrying the tablet.

That's right - and not only will our favorite yellow-themed retailer be selling the Sprint and Verizon versions of the device; they'll also be exchanging a silver, WiFi-only edition of the Tab for $499, which, mind you, is the same price as the 16GB WiFi-only iPad. So which tablet is worth your hard-earned cash? Hit up our comparison chart here and be sure to ...

Oct

T-Mobile LG Optimus T Goes On Sale November 3rd For Just $29.99

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in LG, News, Optimus T

T-Mobile's recently announced LG Optimus T isn't exactly the most specced-out little bugger, despite its Autobot-like name, but according to the carrier's Facebook page, it will have at least one exciting feature: a budget-friendly price point. Indeed, T-Mobile will be selling the device for a seriously considerable $29.99 (on a new two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in-rebate, of course) starting November 3rd. A top-of-the-line device this may not be, but there's no denying that at a price more affordable than that of many messaging phones, many customers will view the Optimus T as an impulse purchase. And hey, ...

Oct

Behold PowerAMP - The Most Gorgeous Player On The Android Platform, With Preamp And Equalizer Support

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

There is no shortage of media applications for Android - in fact, Winamp that came out last week was the most serious and robust media offering I've seen so far. However, when it comes to strictly the media player functionality, even Winamp can't touch what I'm about to show you - a new beta app called PowerAMP.

PowerAMP is an Android media player developed by a cool Russian dude by the name of Maxim Petrov (Max MP). Its most notable features are, in my opinion, the gorgeous interface, support for both equalizer and preamp, and very fast file scanning speed....

Oct

Last Week's Best New Android Apps And Games (10/18/10 - 10/24/10)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Last Updated: April 13th, 2011

Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications and games that went live in the Market in the previous week or so.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets.

Best New Android Apps

PowerAMP

PowerAMP is the sexiest Android music player I've seen to date. It also includes equalizer and preamp support, making it not just gorgeous on the outside, but smart on the inside. It is not yet available in the Market, but you can download the current build from here.

See this xda thread for ...