March 2011 Archives

Mar

Google's Android Market Copyright Infringement Form Wins The Troll Awards - Just Says 'crap' Upon Submission (Not An April Fool's Joke)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Dev, Google, News, Off-Topic

Among all the awesome (or really bad, depending on your mood) April Fool's jokes today, Google's web form for submitting Android Market copyright infringements towers above all, especially considering it's not a joke, at all. We really doubt that it's intentional because this behavior was present before April 1st arrived to California, and it is mind boggling that something like this would fall through the cracks and get past Google's Quality Assurance. Alas...

Upon submitting the relatively lengthy form that is meant to report copyright violations in the Market, instead of a Thank You message, the [most likely innocent ...

Mar

Rumor: Google To Incorporate Google TV Into The Next Version Of Android

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Rumors

We've all heard that Ice Cream (the next version of Android) is supposed to combine Gingerbread with Honeycomb, but our friends over at Phandroid have gotten the inside track on some additional information, and it looks like Google TV may become part of the bundle as well. While Google TV has gotten off to a rocky start, incorporating it into Android seems like it would be a smart move for Google.

So what does this mean? In all honesty, it could mean a number of things. One thing that I would count on, though, is consistency. All Google devices (TVs, ...

Mar

PSA: Verizon's Warranty Exchange Policy Is About To Get A Lot More Strict Starting Tomorrow

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Tips, Verizon Wireless

It appears Verizon has altered the terms of its "Certified Like New Program" ("CLNP") (pray they don't alter them further) to be a lot more demanding regarding the condition of exchanged devices.

Namely, if you send in your destroyed DROID, don't expect to get a shiny new replacement without a serious penalty - all phones sent in on warranty exchange must now meet the following requirements:

CLNR Cosmetics Standards
CLNR Cosmetic Standard Summary:
No blemishes are permitted on front surfaces such as the touch screen, keyboard
No more than two flaws, which must be less than 5mm in length, are

...

Mar

Playstation Games Begin To Arrive In The Android Market, US Residents Patiently Wait For Their Turn

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Just in time for the UK release of the Sony Xperia Play, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited (can we just say SCEEL for short?) has started to release Playstation games on the Android Market. So far, only five games have been released, including Syphon Filter and MediEvil, but I'm sure that many more are on the way (Metal Gear Solid, anyone?). Naturally, I tried to install one of these games, only to be denied.

However, according to yesterday's leak, we should see the Xperia Play hit Verizon stores in the US on April 14th, so it won't be too ...

Mar

mSpot Reacts To Amazon Cloud Player, Ups Free Storage Capacity To 5GB

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

As a direct result of Amazon releasing its (awesome) Cloud Player, music streaming service mSpot has upped its free storage to 5GB. mSpot works almost exactly like Amazon Cloud Player – upload your music, download the app, and stream to your heart's content. Unlike Amazon, however, the most storage that you can get from mSpot is 40GB ($3.99/month) with no plans in between the basic (5GB) and premium (40GB). On the upside, you don't have to shell out the annual fee right away - paying $4/month rather than prepaying for a year could attract some consumers to the service....

Mar

Trulia Releases App To Help Would-Be Home Owners Find Their Dream House

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Finding and buying a house can be an overwhelming experience, but fortunately for us, real estate website Trulia have released an Android app to aid the process. The app has some nice features, like using GPS to search nearby areas (you can also manually enter locations). It also allows you to save your favorite places, shows full pictures of homes, helps find open houses and saves them to your calendar, and even utilizes voice recognition – all you have to do is announce the city and number of bed/bathrooms that you’re looking for. Very cool stuff.

...

Mar

Rumor: Google Plans On Tightening Its Grip On Android To Reduce Fragmentation And (Hopefully) Get Rid Of Unwanted Custom UIs

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, News, Rumors

Last Updated: April 1st, 2011

For everything that we love about Android – openness, customization, large selection of devices, etc. – there are things that we hate about it, too, like fragmentation and manufacturers pre-loading devices with crapware and (some) custom UIs. It seems, though, that Google is looking to change all of that. Insiders from companies “in the Android ecosystem” have told Businessweek that Google is starting to crack down on changes that manufacturers are allowed to make to Android. This includes more than just interface tweaks and added “features”, and it is said that Google wants to be more selective with hardware, as ...

Mar

Asus EEE Pad Transformer Shows Up On BestBuy.com As "Coming Soon" For Only $400

Posted by Cameron Summerson in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer, News

It’s about time someone read the memo about Honeycomb tablet pricing being too damn high. According to Best Buy’s website, the Asus EEE Pad Transformer will be dropping at the awesomely low price of $400. If you haven’t heard about the the EEE Pad Transformer, check this out:

Yeah, it’s that cool. The EEE Pad Transformer ships with Honeycomb, a 10.1 inch display, Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GBs of storage. No word on pricing for the keyboard dock, but for a $400 Honeycomb tablet, who wants to stand in line with me?

Update: ...

Mar

American Airlines Giving Away One Million AAdvantage Miles Plus 30 Nook Colors To Android App Users

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Applications, News

Earlier this year American Airlines released the official version of their app, and to promote it they are launching the "Mobile Million Sweepstakes". One lucky winner will be awarded one million AAdvantage air miles, and one winner each day for 30 days will also receive the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color.

All you have to do to take part in this giveaway is reside in the U.S. and download the American Airlines Android app from the Android Market. Then simply watch the video and register through the pop-up. If you don't own an Android phone, there is an alternative ...

Mar

HTC's HTCSense.com Remote Locking Capabilities Are Useful. In Theory. When They Work...

Posted by David Rutland in HTC, News

The ability to locate your expensive bundle of joy, when lost or worse, stolen, is priceless. And arguably more so, is the capability to prevent whoever is using it from accessing your personal data and photos while placing premium rate phone calls to xxx numbers in Eastern Europe.

It's peace of mind that even if your phone is truly gone for good, then the biggest expense you'll incur will be a new handset, and hell, the insurance that you are paying through the nose for, should cover that.

This is why apps such as Lookout Mobile Security, Theft Aware...

Mar

HTC Takes A Deep Dive Look At The Flyer Tablet In A Detailed 6-Minute Video

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO View 4G, Flyer, HTC, News, Videos

HTC Flyer, also known as the HTC View 4G in the U.S. on Sprint, is one of the more interesting Android tablets coming out within the next few months, due to its superfast 1.5GHz processor, a perfect for many (as the Nook Color and Galaxy Tab showed) 7" size, palm rejection technology, and the Scribe digital pen.

Sure, we got a few hands-on here and there, but nobody can be as good as HTC itself at highlighting the best features of the tablet, at least until we get our own review units.

In this 6-minute video that surfaced a ...

Mar

N64oid, Nintendo 64 Emulator For Android, Was Not Taken Down - It's On Hiatus Pending Performance Improvements

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

When the Nintendo 64 emulator first came out, many users were overcome with joy - it was the first and only emulator for Android, and nostalgia was overwhelming. However, a short time after, N64oid simply disappeared. Worried threads popped up around the Internet, and with today's disappearance of PSX4Droid, we couldn't help but wonder whether the two incidents are related.

You can breathe easy though - N64oid is safe, at least according to a few people who received responses from the developer regarding the disappearance. The truth is, due to some compatibility and performance complaints, yongzh, the developer, ...

Mar

187

[Updated] Fake App Gets Uploaded To Pirate Android Markets, Megatrolls And Embarrasses Those Who Download It

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

If there is one thing I despise in the world of Android, it is piracy and specifically Android sites that let you download paid apps, oftentimes for a monthly membership fee. Most Android developers are not large corporations, but rather independent, smalltime individuals to whom every download counts. Today's story, therefore, gives me added pleasure, because in it, pirates are implicated in one of the most embarrassing ways I can imagine.

An application, masking itself as a non-existent version of the paid app called Walk and Text, was uploaded to multiple pirate Android app markets across North America and ...

Mar

Dropbox Drops New Beta v1.0.9.3 With Lock Code Support, More Languages, Honeycomb Improvements, And Other Fixes

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

If you use Dropbox on your Android device and either like to live on the edge or help the company test out the latest betas, you will want to check out this post on the Dropbox forums, announcing a new public beta v1.0.9.3 with some new translations, Honeycomb improvements, new Lock Code support for the security-conscious, and other fixes. Forum replies also indicated that some sort of a folder opening bug got fixed in the process, though I am not sure what exactly that bug was in the first place.

Check out the changelog, then proceed to the direct download ...

Mar

PSX4Droid Emulator Gets Pulled From The Market - Probably For Trademark Infringement

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Dev, Games, News

Engadget is reporting via a number of tipsters that the popular PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid has been pulled from Android market. Google's statement on the issue?

"We remove apps from Android Market that violate our policies."

Well, that's helpful. Actually, upon a short perusal of the US Patent and Trademark Office database, the reason became clear to us: PSX4Droid is infringing on a trademark owned by Sony for the acronym "PSX." This means PSX4Droid probably just needs a name change before being given the green light for republication. Considering the impending release of the Xperia Play, Sony seems to have timed ...