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[Update: Winners!] Win One Of Three V-Moda Crossfade M-100 Headphones From V-Moda And Android Police
In the mobile world, there are a few things that are absolutely clutch to a good experience: a good phone or tablet (that's a given), a set of go-to apps, and a good set of headphones or earbuds. Not the crap that your phone may have shipped with or some knock-off junk available at the local Target for $23, but some high-quality speakers for your head. If you've never owned a good set of over-the-ear headphones, then you're missing out on what a great audio experience can be like. Fortunately for you, we happen to have three sets of the kickass V-Moda Crossfade M-100s to give away today.
It's been nearly two years since Blu announced a new member to the Vivo line, but the company is gearing up to release the Vivo 4.3's successor, the Vivo 4.8. Stylistically, it has a similar look to the 4.3, albeit on a slightly larger scale due to its 4.8 inch display. Also like the 4.3, the 4.8 has a Super AMOLED panel with Blu's Nex Lens and Infinite View technologies. This is in contrast to other Blu devices of late, which all use IPS panels along with Nex Lens and Infinite View.
Adobe's Photoshop Express is an app we haven't actually talked about in quite some time, but with the slew of more advanced image-editing applications making their way to Android (like Snapseed, for example), Adobe thought it was time to show the aging application some love.
We're all for psychedelic games around here, and if said game also happens to incorporate some sort of logical gameplay and pretty scenery, we're definitely interested. That basically describes Polymous' upcoming game God of Light, which the company recently teased. There's no point in spending countless words trying to explain the look of the game, especially considering that there's a nice video teaser that displays the gameplay perfectly:
If you have a Nexus 7 or 5, then there's a good chance you've looked at all of El Goog's accessories in the Play Store. There's also a good chance you scoffed at the prices of said accessories, because let's be honest here – they're not cheap.
Here at AP, we usually team up with partners to give away Android devices, accessories, or other related items. Every once in a while, though, someone hits us up with something new and different. Something fun. That's what today's giveaway with Handy Apps is. Before we get into the details, however, let's take a closer look at some of our kickass sponsor's apps.
There's been an slew of new "ultra-portable" USB cables show up over the past several months (you know, because USB cables definitely aren't portable on their own) – like ChargeCard, for example. These little gems aim to do one thing: hang out in easily-accessed areas (like your pocket) and be there when your phone needs some juice or file transfer.
Ever since Google launched the ability for developers to offer public beta testing directly through the Play Store, we've seen quite a few devs take this route and offer the hottest thing off the press for users to try out. The latest high-profiler to take advantage of this system is IMDb, which recently launched its first beta app through its Google+ Community.
Generally speaking, I consider Braven to be one of the top manufacturers of Bluetooth speakers. Its products are usually well-made and sound good, and its product catalog is fairly expansive for what it is (in other words, the company offers a speaker for most needs). Having spent time with past Braven speakers, I grabbed the 710 review unit expecting what I'd get. After using it for a while, however, I have to say I'm actually kind of disappointed with the 710.
If Pandora, Spotify, Google Play Music All Access, Rdio, Rhapsody, or any of the other streaming music services just haven't been able to deliver the experience you're looking for, make way for the newcomer to the scene: Beats Music. It's launching January 21st with support for Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile (aside from the desktop, of course), and actually brings a couple of features that the other guys should pay attention to.
When it comes to big things happening at CES, Fuhu isn't really the first name that comes to mind. Understandably so, as it's a small, niche company. But don't sell it short, either – these guys have been hard at work and have some great-looking products set for release in 2014.
We've already discussed ASUS' fun-loving ZenFone and PadFone Mini, but for those who want a little more out of their gadgets-that-do-more-than-just-one-thing, the Transformer Book Duet should be worth a look. ASUS calls its "four devices in one" since it's an Android tablet, Android laptop, Windows tablet, and Windows laptop, but you can take that for what it's worth – I think it's kind of pushing it. It's just a tablet and a laptop, silly marketing people.
If you know anything about ASUS, it's probably that they love to put things in other things. I'm pretty sure they pioneered putting phones inside of tablets, turning tablets into laptops, and other forms of turducken technology. In true ASUS form, the company announced not one, not two, but three new turduckentech devices yesterday: the PadFone Mini, PadFone X, and Transformer Book Duet.
While mobile announcements aren't generally a major thing we expect to see at CES, Samsung decided it would be generous and throw out a handful of new tablets in between its 4K TVs and new smart appliances. I'm talking of course about the new Tab Pro and Note Pro series – a premium lineup of new Samsung kit in a variety of sizes with a fresh new UI.
Fuhu is no stranger to partnerships at this point – the company has released the nabi jr. Nick Jr. Edition, nabi 2 Nick Edition, and nabi 2 Disney Edition. And according to the New York Times, it looks like another co-branded device is coming down the pike now, though this one reportedly exits the nabi line and will be released under the moniker DreamTab.
If one of NVIDIA's Tegra Note devices was under your Christmas tree this year, a quick jump into the System Updates menu should bring just one more gift: an OTA directly from NVIDIA. This is the first major system update for the company's first tablet platform, and should be available on all brands of the device, including EVGA, ADVENT, Gigabyte, Shezhen Homecare Technology, ZOTAC, and XOLO.
Listen up, super-late Christmas shoppers: Best Buy has a pretty good deal going on seven-inch Kindle Fire HDXs today. You can score up to $82 off of various HDX models, and while they definitely won't arrive before Christmas (because, you know, that's today), they all have free shipping. Here's a full list of the options:
2040 Studios (formerly UDS) puts out some pretty solid accessories. We've looked at many of them in the past – Capta, PuGoo, Snable, Vavo, and MODO – and have walked away with overall good impressions every time. To celebrate the holiday season, the guys at 2040 have knocked the price off of both Capta and MODO, so if either one is on your holiday wishlist, now's the time to buy.
SwiftKey is well-known for being one of the best third-party keyboards available for Android. What users of other keyboards may not know, however, is that the company also loves to bake little surprises into the app, especially around the holidays (like the "tilt" feature from April Fool's Day).
I've gone hands on with nearly every member of Blu's Life family at this point, and they've all lead up to this phone. The first four members of the Life line – the Play, View, One, and Pro – vary mostly in form factor, though the Pro also features a faster processor than its siblings. Up until the now, the general gist of the Life line has been: quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and a 720p display. Not awful, but far from the flagship phone that many users desire (to be fair, the prices are also far from flagship, too).