Abhiroop Basu - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Abhiroop Basu is an opinionated tech and digital media blogger. As a doe-eyed twenty-something he started his first blog TechComet to comment on anything tech-related that caught his omniscient eye. Since then he has blogged for Android Police, Make Tech Easier, and This Green Machine. In the real world, Abhiroop Basu is a resident of Singapore and the Editor of The Digit, a subsidiary of The Potato Productions Group.

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Jul

Dexetra Updates "Memory" App Friday With Slick New UI And Applets

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, News, Reviews

Introduction

Over a year ago, I reviewed an interesting life journal app called Friday. The app aimed to record every single interaction a user had with their smartphone, including calls, texts, mails, photos, social activities, and songs played. My conclusion was that while Friday was a polished app, it was doubtful whether it would actually be useful. The developer Dexetra then spent a year running alpha and beta tests, and their latest version of Friday is a lot more polished, with an improved focus.

Updates to Friday

In terms of overall function, Friday has not changed very much. It collects a variety of information about what you are doing and then displays it, with answers and analytics.

Jun

Google Nexus 7 Tablet Leaked In Internal Training Document, 8GB To Cost $199 And 16GB $249

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in ASUS, Google, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors

Google I/O is coming and we already expect a bevy of Android related announcements. Furthermore, rumours of a Google-branded Android tablet have been swirling around for some time now, and last month a benchmark report indicated that the 7-inch tablet would be manufactured by Asus.

According to a leaked internal training document, recently uncovered by Gizmodo Australia, the Google tablet will indeed be manufactured by Asus and will feature the following specs:

7-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280x800 and a 178-degree viewing angle
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor
nVidia GeForce 12-core GPU
1GB of RAM
8GB or 16GB of internal storage
1.2 MP front-facing camera, no rear camera
NFC with Google Wallet
Android Beam
Battery life estimated at 9 hours

Aside from the specs, which are quite impressive, there are two pieces of news that are especially interesting.

Jun

Indie Gala Lets You Set Your Own Price For Four Great Android Games

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Games, News

Reminiscent of the incredibly popular Humble Bundle, Indie Gala lets you set your own price for four amazing Android games.

The principal behind Indie Gala is simple, users can choose how much they want to pay for the game bundle and then decide which charity to donate their money to. The games on offer include:

Great Little War Game: bringing an unique fusion of cutesy visual style and robust turn-based strategy;
Cardinal Quest: an arcade-style dungeon crawler;
Legends of Yore: another old-school dungeon crawler; and
Smiles HD: a solitaire-like arcade matching game.

Users can pay as little as $1 or as much as $150 (full retail price) for the bundle.

May

Samsung The King Of Android With 45.4% Of All Global Shipments In Q1 2012

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, News, Samsung

IDC's report for the first quarter of 2012 indicates that Google's Android continues to grow its market share to 59%, while Apple's iOS lags in second at 23%. Unsurprisingly Samsung has given the biggest boost to Android, accounting for a whopping 45.4% of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide.

In total 152.3 million smartphones were shipped in the first quarter of 2012, of which 89.9 million were Android-based smartphones (59%), 35.1 million were iOS devices (23%), 10.4 million were Symbian-based phones (6.8)%, followed by BlackBerry, Linux, and Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile devices.

Compared to the same quarter last year, Android's market share has increased dramatically by 145%, followed by iOS's modest increase of 88.7%.

May

Sprint's HTC EVO 4G LTE Supports Simultaneous Voice And Data Over 3G

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in EVO 4G LTE (Jewel), News, Sprint

The EVO fan blog Good and EVO is reporting that simultaneous voice calling and 3G data (SV-DO) is working on Sprint's HTC EVO 4G LTE. Some of you may be aware that unlike GSM carriers (e.g. AT&T), CDMA carriers (e.g. Sprint) are unable to serve voice and data over 3G simultaneously. So if you were on a CDMA device talking to someone, it would be impossible for you to connect to the internet. Verizon Wireless became one of the first CDMA carriers to offer both voice and data over its 3G networks when it launched the HTC Thunderbolt, early last year.

May

Infinite Dreams Releases Ghoulish Sequel To Shoot The Birds: Shoot The Zombirds

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Games, News

Released in the second half of last year, Shoot The Birds was an interesting and popular take on the familiar Duck Hunt genre of games. If you didn't get enough of your favourite crossbow-wielding pumpkin head hero, he returns in a ghoulish sequel to do what he does best: Shoot The Zombirds.

Developer Infinite Dreams has retained the original Shoot The Birds formula, i.e. the Pumpkin Boy must protect the little Pumpkids by shooting the birds out of the sky. However the sequel brings a new twist in the form of undead zombified birds. There are also a number of new challenging objectives and skills.

May

Grand Theft Auto III On Sale For Only $0.99 Till May 28th, 80% Off Standard Price

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Deals, Games, News

The Grand Theft Auto series is a veritable gaming classic, spanning 14 games and numerous clones. The games are all highly addictive with enthralling storylines, and Rockstar has been able to replicate this magic formula with GTA III for Android.

The game normally retails for $4.99, however in celebration of the Memorial Day weekend, Rockstar has decided to massively discount it by 80%. Starting today you can pick up the game from the Google Play store for just $0.99, but hurry, the offer is only valid till Monday, May 28th.

We’re celebrating Memorial Day weekend with a special sale on Grand Theft Auto 3 with a low price at 80% off, starting today through Monday, May 28th.

May

Acer Halts Shipment Of Iconia Tab A510 Due To A Faulty Component, Confirms A700 Is On Track To Ship By June 11

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Acer, Iconia Tab A510, News

A few hours ago, the Acer Germany page on Facebook (translated) posted an update stating that there was a fault with an important component in the A51x series of tablets. But Acer did not state which component failed to pass their quality control tests. Unfortunately, this means that there will be a delay in delivery of the Iconia Tab A510/A511 tablets, and Acer has been unable to confirm when the faulty component will be replaced.

Amazon has also stopped taking orders for the device as customers have reported that there could be something wrong with it.

Owners of the A510/A511 tablets who are concerned that they have a faulty device ought not to worry, as a recent comment by Acer on its Facebook page indicates that tablets that were already shipped passed their quality control tests.

May

Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S III Outed By Bluetooth SIG

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Galaxy S III, News, Verizon Wireless

Sometimes confirmations come from the strangest of sources.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has just approved a CMDA version of the Samsung Galaxy SIII (SCH-I535), all but guaranteeing its arrival on Verizon.

Earlier this month a device with the model number SCH-I535 appeared in a NenaMark benchmark test. The device was using the Qualcomm Adreno 225 GPU and was Verizon branded. We suggested that the US version of the Galaxy SIII was likely to use the Snapdragon S4 chip, and the benchmark appears to confirm this theory.

Considering the fact that the Bluetooth SIG approved a CDMA version of what is clearly the Galaxy SIII, and since the model number of the device matches the NenaMark2 test, it is safe to conclude that Verizon should be getting the Galaxy SIII.

May

Thanks To CableWiFi, Over 50,000 Free Wireless Hotspots Will Be Available Across The US

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Off-Topic

Surfing the web while on the move has become a reality thanks to mobile internet over 3G or LTE. However despite yearly advancements in its technology, the reliability of mobile networks remains lackluster.

A solution to ubiquitous connectivity has come in the form of blanketing various cities with wireless hotspots. For example, in Singapore the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) have initiated the Wireless@SG program which aims to provide wireless hotspots all across the island.

In a similar vein, a group of US cable companies have come together to provide their customers with access to each others wireless hotspots. Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable have over 50,000 hotspots in various locations around the US, and soon these will all be accessible to customers of any of those five companies using the "CableWiFi" network name.