Artem Russakovskii

Artem is a die-hard Android fan, passionate tech blogger, obsessive-compulsive editor, bug hunting programmer, and the founder of Android Police.
Most of the time, you will find Artem either hacking away at code or thinking of the next 15 blog posts.

Follow @ArtemR

Jan

13 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (1/13/11 - 1/17/11)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Last Updated: April 13th, 2011

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.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.

Looking for the previous week's roundup? Find it here: 20 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (1/4/11 – 1/12/11)

Best New Android Apps

ABBYY Business Card Reader

ABBYY Business Card Reader (BCR) offers an easy way to add a new contact to your smartphone’s address book: simply take a picture of a business card and save the contact.

Jan

Nostalgic And Awesome: Fully Working TI-83, TI-85, And TI-86 Android Emulators Hit The Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

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.

I'm not sure whether Texas Instruments goes after emulators of its calculators, but I would download these ASAP if I were you.

Jan

TurboTax Launches SnapTax - A W2-Scanning Tax Filing Android App

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

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.

If you've made less than $80K, the income was all a result of W2s, interest, or unemployment, and if you don't claim any dependents or real estate, SnapTax is for you. Not only can you e-file your Federal and State taxes straight from your phone but snap pictures of your W2s too - just like those mobile banking apps help you deposit checks, SnapTax helps you scan your income form.

Jan

Now THIS Is How Android Theming Is Done: Tron Legacy Pro Theme For ADW Launcher

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Mods, News

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.

The theme doesn't just change the wallpaper or a few icons - it is what the author describes as "ultra-detailed." What this means is Tron's infamous neon effect was actually studied by Mariux to match the movie, a ton of icons have been changed, including popular applications outside of what ships stock (Angry Birds, Aldiko, Foursquare, Facebook, Goggles, etc), and even widget styles match the overall theme.

Jan

Spectral Souls By IdeaFactory/HyperDevBox Arrives In The Android Market, Weighs A Whopping 1GB!

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

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.

This 1GB monster brings you soundtracks (52 of them), high resolution graphics, cut-scene videos, 84 different characters, and 100s of hours of gameplay. What kind of gameplay? It's best to take a look at the demo video and screenshots, then cough up $14.40 for the game, and give it a go for yourself.

Jan

Motorola's Dual-Core Ehtrix... Errr... Atrix 4G Coming Soon To Bell

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Bell, Motorola, News

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.

In case you've missed the announcement, the Atrix 4G was unveiled at CES last week, and we've got some brief hands-on time with it right over here.

Jan

20 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (1/4/11 - 1/12/11)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Last Updated: April 13th, 2011

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!

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.

Looking for the previous week's roundup? Find it here: 30 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (12/28/10 – 01/03/11).

Best New Android Apps

Rope Cut – Cut The Rope clone

Cut the rope by simply swiping your finger across them to deliver the candy to that little python.

Jan

Rope Cut, A Cut The Rope Clone, Enters The Android Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

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.

Everything about Rope Cut is similar to Cut The Rope - it is, after all, a clone. The goal of the game is to cut the ropes on the screen in a certain sequence in order to grab all the stars and end up in the little snake's mouth.

Jan

Dolphin Browser Mini Leaves Beta, Hits 1.0

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

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.

Improvements in the latest version include:

UI upgrade ( menu & toolbox )
Add Bookmarks Label
Add on demand/ enable flash plugin
Data backup & restore
Quick access to clean data

If you haven't given Dolphin Mini a fair chance yet, I suggest you try it out by scanning the barcode below or clicking it if you're on your mobile:

Jan

The Coolest Android Gadget At CES 2011: Recon's Android-Powered, GPS-Enabled, Camera-Streaming Snow Goggles [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Devices By Manufacturer, Froyo 2.2, News, Videos

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.

Their current product, called Transcend, is a full snow goggles solution incorporating a little color LCD screen in the bottom right corner. This screen is small but it gets magnified optically to show a whole array of information, such as your current speed, temperature, altitude, time, vertical odometer, and the trail map overlaid on top of Google Maps (among other things).