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Truly stylish clock/date widgets of high quality are hard to come by, so whenever we see one released, we jump on it right away. Today's highlight is Typography Wall that was just released into the Android Market.
HTC EVO Shift 4G is not even a month old, but this $150 (on-contract MSRP) mini-EVO slider was already discounted by Amazon Wireless to $119.99 at launch and today dropped another to .99. Since Amazon doesn't charge tax in most states and offers free 2-day shipping, I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that you will not find a better deal anywhere else on the web. Unfortunately, only new accounts willing to sign a 2-year contract qualify for the promotion - those upgrading will need to shell out the full $150.
Launcher Pro, my favorite launcher replacement, got updated today with a much requested feature - homescreen transition animations, available to all LP users, not just Plus. In addition to the usual and very smooth slide effect, we now have 4 more: Scale, Rotate, Flip, and Cube. All are smooth, except for the Cube transition, so I would advise against using it until Fede makes it a bit more snappy. Out of 5 transitions (including the regular slide), my favorite is definitely Flip. What's yours?
In the past few weeks, we've seen multiple accusations portraying Samsung as the bad guy in the Galaxy S Froyo upgrade drama in the U.S. First, there were many delays, followed by the update finally rolling out pretty much everywhere outside the U.S. Then, all anonymous and unconfirmed, an accusation that T-Mo's new Vibrant 4G was the reason for the, possibly indefinite, delay and a report that Samsung charges U.S. carriers for Android updates, later denied by Samsung.
I have a soft spot for well done demoes, even if they exist only in concept form, and today's design by Kristian Ulrich Larsen fits right into this category (did you really expect anything else from a designer with such an awesome name?).
After weeks of frantic coding, SwiftKey, my favorite smart aftermarket Android keyboard, just released a private beta to all registered VIP forum members. While the beta itself (v1.98.1.172) is private and we can't provide you with a download link, what we can do is list all of the improvements and tease you with some screenshots.
Out of all the apps that require root privileges, I probably use ShootMe the most. Before today's update, it was the best and easiest way to take a screenshot anywhere in Android without hooking it up to a computer - just turn the program on, go to the screen you want to take a snapshot of, shake the device, and ShootMe snaps the picture. After today's update, however, ShootMe is no longer just a screenshot app - it's also a screencasting app. That's right, you can now use ShootMe to record videos of whatever you're doing on your Android device, up to 10 frames per second. There doesn't appear to be sound in the videos just yet, and the quality is not the greatest, but it's all likely to improve as Johan Cloetens, the app's developer, continues his work.
Kongregate.com, snatched up by GameStop last year, is one of the most popular time-killing websites in the world, with hundreds of original Flash games to entertain visitors for hours. It was only a matter of time for the company to bring the most mobile friendly of those games directly to Android in a single easy-to-consume package, called Kongregate Arcade.
Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications and games that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. The list is pretty short, mostly because last week's roundup was a couple of days late, thus eating into this week, and January in general seems like a slow month for the Market.
Sure, there are some excellent calculators in the Android Market, but do any of them make you hesitate for a minute when looking at them to figure out whether you are staring at a phone or a smaller version of your favorite Texas Instruments machine? Doug Melton's ports of the popular AlmostReal TI-83, TI-85, and TI-86 emulators to Android are so successful, most of your professors wouldn't even know the difference if they saw one of these on your desk. The buttons, the layout, the graphics, TI-BASIC program support - it's all there. Awesome.
Nobody likes to do their taxes but, unfortunately, the tax season is almost upon us, and I'm dreading and counting down the days until April 18th (this year's tax day is not the 15th). However, those of you who have relatively simple taxes have a new option to file this year, one that wouldn't even make you touch a computer - TurboTax SnapTax for Android.
Android is known for its customizability and freedom, therefore it's not a surprise that it supports a variety of theming methods. Unfortunately, the vast majority of themes are either low quality or incomplete, which is a natural side effect of what happens when everyone is given a chance to contribute. When a truly great theme comes along, one worthy of changing the default launcher, it needs to be given credit. And the Tron Legacy Pro theme by Mariux is definitely one of those themes.
When a quality game hits the Android Market, we can't stay quiet. When a game that comes with over 1GB of data hits the Market, we absolutely have to give it a mention, especially when it is exclusive to Android and is a high quality English version of a Japanese Tactical RPG.
I couldn't resist this time - we love you, Canadians! And soon, you will in turn love Motorola, as it is bringing one of CES's most radical and breakthrough Android devices - the Atrix 4G - to The Land Owt & Aboot. Bell, Canada's 2nd largest mobile carrier, put up this "Coming Soon" page (available in French here), promising the Tegra 2 powered laptop commander... well, soon. There is no word on exact availability just yet, but Bell is offering a convenient signup form for when things start moving.
Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications and games that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. This week is relatively boring - don't shoot the messenger!
Back in October of last year, ZeptoLab, the maker of a very popular iOS game Cut The Rope, announced its tentative plans to port the hit to Android, albeit without an expected release date. We've waited for a few months, but the release didn't come (though, I'm sure, they're hard at work). Feelingtouch Inc, however, didn't want to wait and in the meantime developed and released a clone - Rope Cut.
My current browser of choice, Dolphin HD, gained a little brother a few months ago, when Dolphin Mini (beta) was born. It was lighter, faster, and more elegant, yet still functional and robust. After over 50,000 downloads and weeks of testing, the Dolphin team just released v1.0 of the Mini, meaning it's officially out of beta and stable for everyday use.
I've been roaming the booths of CES for 3 days now, and I think I've seen almost everything even remotely related to Android that was worth seeing. One company, Recon Instruments, has been on my mind since the beginning, however, and I'm really glad I finally made it to their booth today.
It's officially the 3rd day of CES, and I finally made it over to the giant Sharp booth pavilion, where I was able to get a hands-on demo of the first and only 3D Android handset, which is currently only sold in Japan. Don't worry though - it's coming to the U.S. and possibly other locations this year. Perhaps you've heard of it - meet Sharp Galapagos 003SH, which is capable of not only showing 3D menus, pictures, and videos, but allows you to snap some as well. In addition, it supports 3D-enabled games, one of which I was able to demo.
Walking around CES Unveiled on the first day of CES 2011, I ran into a little company called Mavizon Tech, showcasing their product with a beautiful name Mavia. I you've never heard of Mavizon, don't feel bad - they don't have many consumer-facing products just yet, but it's all about to change when Mavia hits the market later this year.