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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:
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.
Many people who use custom themes or launchers are familiar with WidgetLocker. What many people don't realize, though, is that customizing WidgetLocker itself is a fairly straightforward task. Better still, there are plenty of existing customizations available, meaning that you have to do little more than shove your modified .PNG files into the APK.
Take a look around Google and you can see that people are seriously peeved by the lack of notification LED in the Samsung Galaxy S line of devices (excluding the Epic 4G). Developer and i9000 owner Michael R. - better known as neldar on the XDA forums - was annoyed enough by the glaring omission that he decided to come up with a solution. The result: BLN (BackLight Notification).
Way back in July, Lookout released the results of a study on app security, and found that many apps have access to user data that they have no need for - suggesting that there was plenty of potential for illicit information use. Two months later, a group of researchers from Intel, Penn State, and Duke came forth with data showing just that: 15 of the 30 apps tested sent GPS data, 7 sent unique hardware information, and a few sent more private information such as phone and SIM numbers.
This isn't nearly as exciting as that other thing that's just happened, but it's still fun - especially for those of us into cars and/or racing games. EA Mobile released NFS: Shift into the Market about 17 hours ago, and although it obviously packs a lot less than the PC/console version, if it's anywhere close, it should still be a blast to play. The official app description:
Prepare your party gear and break out the keg, people: Google is officially starting the push of Gingerbread to AOSP (Android Open Source Project) as we speak. Jean-Baptiste Queru just announced that fact, saying he was going to begin pushing the code to the AOSP, and the process is expected to take a few hours.
Big news from kernel-master toastcfh about an hour ago: WiMax (Sprint's 4G) is now working on CyanogenMod. This has long been one of the most heard complaints from CM fans with EVOs in particular (in fact, just about every time we post on CM, somebody comments about the lack of 4G). At the moment, details are light - for example, we don't know how long it's going to take to make it into a release, or if there's anything special involved.
Amazon Updates Kindle App, Brings In-App Purchases, Install To SD Card, Periodical Support, And More
Amazon has updated their Kindle for Android app to the ridiculously-numbered version 2.0.0.101810146. With the update comes a few notable new features:
Last month at GSM 2010, NEC showed off a 7" touchscreen Android tablet. The company was marketing it towards businesses, and it's supposed to function mainly in the cloud - an interesting proposal. Unfortunately, it seems the execution is lackluster in just about every way. The specs are utter crap:
Good news for professional Android users: LinkedIn has finally released an Android app. Unfortunately, it's still in "public" beta at this point, and to get the app you have to join the Android group on LinkedIn (in other words, it's not on the Market yet). At this stage, it packs all the basic features:
Is it that time already? It was just 11 days ago that CM6.1 was dropped, and the team has already released 6.1.1. As this is a minor update, the changes aren't anything revelatory, but an update is an update, right?
Our pal Dan Ruby over at Chitika just shot us a note to let us know that he's run the numbers and come up with a prediction for when Android will take over the #1 position in market share in the US, based on ad impressions on Chitika's network. The result: February 16, 2012... at 12:23 PM EST.
Another month, another report from advertiser Millennial Media. As usual, it's best to start this off by pointing out that these results are based on ad impressions across Millennial's network, and thus should be considered a sample. With that out of the way, let's take a peek.
A new update to Facebook for Android just landed on the Market, and it brings a duo of long-awaited features: push notifications and Chat. Naturally, it also packs some bug fixes for good measure.
It almost seems like more worthwhile news comes from XDA-Developers forum members than from carriers and manufacturers, doesn't it? This time around, it's user sino8r with a handy guide on how to modify the ROM on your rooted phone so that your carrier doesn't throttle your data. In other words, this one isn't for the inexperienced or faint of heart.
As far as apps go, few are more useful and versatile than Tasker. Despite the comparatively high price (for an app, anyway) of $6.30, there's probably a reason why its average rating is an impressive 4.7/5 stars. Still, that price is high enough to turn some users away, despite the serious lack of alternatives. Fortunately, that gap was filled a few days ago, when an app called Modus Operandi hit the Market.
One of the minor things I find annoying about Android is that there's no stock note app. I never understood how all the dumbphones and featurephones I had in the past 5 years had a note "app," but when I upgraded to my first Android device, I was dumbfounded to find that Android lacked anything similar.
It's no secret that Android's stock messaging app is lackluster, both in terms of appearance and functionality. Major players like Handcent and ChompSMS have stepped up to the plate and do a fine job of addressing both of these shortcomings, but they're not without their own issues. Enter GO SMS, a new alternative that's already attracting a surprising amount of attention.