December 2010 Archives

Dec

[Exclusive] HTC EVO Shift 4G Appears In Best Buy's System: $150 With Contract, $550 Without

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Knight, News, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

If you've got your eye on Sprint and HTC's latest WiMax-capable baby, you're in luck - an anonymous source at Best Buy has just sent us the following shot of their system:

It appears the EVO Shift 4G, or SKU 1768561, will retail for just $149.99 on contract. As an unexpected (but very welcome) surprise, shoppers looking to upgrade to the phone from an older device will be charged the same $149.99 as new customers, provided they also sign up for a new two-year contract.

Those of you who prefer to buy your devices off-contract will be coughing up ...

Dec

Dungeon Defenders: First Wave Just Released To Market, PvP Arena Announced!

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

It's certainly been a good few days for Android gaming, hasn't it? And it looks like the trend is still going: the hotly anticipated Android version of popular iOS game Dungeon Defenders has just landed in the Market with a holiday price of $3. What makes the game so great? Aside from the fact that it's powered by the Unreal engine (!) - which means the graphics are superb - it's long been one of the best-rated iOS games on the market. And indeed, after just an hour on the Android Market, the game has 15 ratings for an average ...

Dec

Samsung UK Says Froyo Update Now Available For All UK Networks

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Carriers, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News

Fresh off the presses (read: Twitter), @SamsungUK has just tweeted saying that Android 2.2 (Froyo) is now available for the Samsung Galaxy S "on all networks." As this is SamsungUK,I'm guessing that means in the UK only, but I've tweeted back asking for clarification just in case - although whether I hear anything back is dubious at best. Regardless, I'll post here once we have some clarification. It looks like the update will have to be applied manually, through Samsung's KIES software.

To anyone unfamiliar with the situation, this update has been a long time coming after having been delayed...

Dec

[Updated] Rant: How To Piss Everyone Off By Gaming The Android Market - Yes, I Am Talking About You, Forester/Woodman/etc

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Editorials

Last Updated: December 27th, 2010

This has been brewing for a while, but I've had enough. As you may know, throughout the week, I keep an eye out for any new worthy Android apps to be rounded up and published for everyone to enjoy. An important part of this search is looking through the new apps list, for which I had chosen AppBrain - specifically, this RSS feed, which lists every app entering the Android Market.

As I've looked at these new apps day by day, I started noticing something peculiar. No, it wasn't the amount of fart apps and soundboards - ...

Dec

Well, This Should Sell A Few Phones - Google Builds A Fully Operational Gigantic 42" Nexus S For Best Buy [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung, Videos

Still playing with dummy units while shopping for your next phone at your local retailer? Those things are annoying, aren't they? You can hold them in your hand, but you can't touch or interact with them in any way.

Best Buy may just have the solution. You'll have to take a few steps back in order to see the new Nexus S demo unit in all its glory, because it's a fully functional 42" monster, complete with a working touch screen, live wallpaper, apps, and everything that a real Nexus S contains.

After hearing the news of the largest Android ...

Dec

ZENONIA 2: The Lost Memories Hits The Market, Ready To Take Your RPG Dreams To The Next Level

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Apps/Games, Games, News

Happy holidays, RPG fans! If you're rocking an Android device, you're in luck - GAMEVIL has just let ZENONIA 2 loose into the Android Market, complete with retro graphics, PvP, and of course, a dark plot conveyed in text that looks like it came from a typewriter.

Judging by what I've seen in the short time I've had to play with it so far, I have no choice but to agree with GAMEVIL's claim that the game is "enhanced in every aspect compared to the original." In addition to the aforementioned retro graphics, PvP, and dark plot, your character can ...

Dec

Jet Car Stunts Leaves The Pits, Makes Its Way Into Android Market

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Apps/Games, Games, News

The iOS mega-hit Jet Car Stunts is now live in the Android Market! That's right, True Axis has finally brought the smash hit to the Android platform, with plenty of OpenFeint goodness thrown in for good measure. For those who don't know of the game, it's a 3D driving masterpiece where your opponents are not other player so much as the tracks themselves. There are huge jumps, crazy stunts, and great wrecks.

Features include:

Smooth and fast rendering graphics
Responsive accelerometer controls
Great crashes
36 unique and 'insane' tracks
Multiple play modes
Jet assisted drift landing
Half car and half

...

Dec

Next Version Of HTC Sense UI To Feature Online Media Store, "Natural Interaction"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in HTC, News

I'm no huge fan of UI overlays, but even I have to admit that HTC's Sense is getting better and better. With features like HTCSense.com and even an e-books store, there's no arguing that it's become more than just an Android skin - in Europe, at least.

It looks like the US is finally on the agenda for the new Sense. According to Drew Bamford, HTC's head of User Experience, the company will be rolling out a new version of the UI next year, which, among other things, will bring us Americans the features Desire HD and Desire Z ...

Dec

All EA Mobile Games Just $0.99 Today For Holiday Sale

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

If you've been holding out on buying any EA Mobile games, today's your lucky day - they're all priced at just $1. Oddly, we've heard no official word of this from EA themselves (rather, just an anonymous tip), so we have no idea how long the sale will last. A look at the Market confirms it to be true, although AppBrain takes a bit to update, so only two of the four titles show the sale price as of writing.

Unfortunately, EA Mobile only has 4 games on the market at the moment - but at least they're not half ...

Dec

Splinter Cell: Conviction HD Makes A Stop By Gameloft, Still Not On Market

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

Oh, Gameloft - you and your shenanigans. It looks like they've just released the graphically excellent Splinter Cell: Conviction HD, but not to the market. At the moment, I've only been able to find it directly from Gameloft for $5. Still, if the following YouTube video is any indication, it looks to be one hell of a doozy:

This version of the game is a far cry from the previous Conviction game that was available on the market - whereas that appeared to be a cheap rip-off app, this bad boy reportedly needs over 500 MB and runs like butter....

Dec

Get Into The Holiday Spirit With A Christmas Dock & Droid Icons

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

With Christmas just two (!) days away, it might be time to get in the holiday spirit. Enter XDA-Developers forum members Krynj and AZ2ENVY. Independently of each other, the two have come up with a perfect holiday theme - Krynj a few Christmas-themed docks, and AZ2 a series of Christmas-themed Android icons.

One of the docks (there are six):

A few of the Droids (there are eight):

_{These are the Droids you're looking for.}

To use the dock, you'll need a launcher with customizable docks (such as LauncherPro).

Taking the dive? Let us see what ...

Dec

HTC Hints At Its Next 4G Phone, Unveil Coming January 6th - A Verizon Phone At Last?

Posted by Brian O'Toole in HTC, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

HTC's released plenty of phones lately, but Verizon - arguably the biggest Android carrier - hasn't been getting any love since way back with the release of the Droid Incredible. What better way to bring it all back than with an LTE launch phone? Judging from HTC's rather smug (who can blame them?) teaser page, they're set to hit the ground running with a launch of the "Incredible HD" on January 6th. That coincides happily with the start of the Consumer Electronics Show, where Verizon are already expected to be pushing their LTE agenda.

It may not be the only ...

Dec

Tunerfish Releases Android App, Aims To Be FourSquare For TV, Movies, And Videos (Complete With A Back Story - Read It)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Tunerfish, which dubs itself "a social discovery engine for TV, movies, and online video," released version 1.0 of its Android app to the Market today.

The idea behind Tunerfish is similar to the one behind 4square, only if you replaced locations with TV shows, movies, and online videos. In order to use Tunerfish, you can create an account or log in using Facebook or Twitter. Once logged in, you can:

see what your friends are watching in real-time
see what they were watching in the past
check out trending shows, movies, and videos, i.e. what's being watched now by

...

Dec

SlideScreen 2.0 In The Works, Beta Build Now Available For Download

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Applications, Apps/Games, Mods, News

Remember Larva Labs, the Android development team behind the awesome home replacement SlideScreen? Well, they're back and working on SlideScreen 2.0, a more advanced version of the original. With 2.0 (a beta preview is now available, get it here), things have been taken up a notch. For example, developers will now be able to write plugins using an API and release them on the Android Market - which means you no longer have to wait for the Larva Labs team to add new features. According to the LL blog, the API includes support for custom shortcut activities ...

Dec

Carrier Billing Comes To Android Market On AT&T - Creates Audible Drop In The Paid App Bucket

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, AT&T, News

That's right, carrier billing is now available for some Android users on the least Android-friendly wireless carrier in the US. Huzzah. I guess I shouldn't be so cynical - I am an AT&T customer, after all. Unfortunately, I also run CyanogenMod 6 on my AT&T Nexus One, and have not yet received any Market update to allow me to use carrier billing, and doubt I will until an official Gingerbread build coaxes me off my custom ROM goodness.