Eric Ravenscraft
Eric is a snarky technophile with a taste for the unusual. When he's not obsessing about Android, you can usually find him obsessing about movies, psychology, or the perfect energy drink. Eric weaves his own special blend of snark, satire, and comedy into all his articles.

24
Apr
galaxysivtiny

Sprint And T-Mobile Facing Galaxy S4 Shipping Delays And Retail Availability Shortages

Posted by in Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

Samsung is facing some difficulties in getting its newest flagship phone into the hands of its U.S. customers. T-Mobile and Sprint have both reported that they will need to push back retail and online availability of the device. T-Mobile will now begin selling the phone on April 29th via its website, though the company has not confirmed when it will be available in stores. Here's the carrier's full statement:

We know customers are really looking forward to getting their new Samsung Galaxy S 4 soon. However, due to an unexpected delay with inventory deliveries, the Galaxy S 4 will not be available on www.T-Mobile.com as planned on Wednesday, April 24.

23
Apr
tainticontiny

[NSFW] Taint Wrangler Is A Gross, Perverse, Horrible Game That Will Probably Be Pulled Before You Finish Reading This Article

Posted by in Games, News
Last Updated: May 4th, 2013

You're a dick. I mean, in this game. Well, you could be a dick in real life, for all I know, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about phalluses. Why are we talking about phalluses? Because sometimes when we're trying to track down great games and apps for you guys to try, we accidentally stumble upon male genitalia. The Play Store is much like Chatroulette in that regard.

Note: NSFW cartoon imagery and language follows.

22
Apr
indigotiny

Indigo Is A Voice Assistant That Knows How To Carry On A Conversation Like A Normal Person (Or Clever Bot)

Posted by in Applications, News

Here at Android Police, we love Google Now (and all the associated voice actions), but the natural language could use a bit of sprucing up. If you'd like to try an alternative voice assistant, Indigo may grab your attention on this front. The pitch here is that the app remembers your conversations and can sync those inquiries across devices.

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If you ask a question like, "Where can I find Indian food around here?" you'll get a list of results. Tap on the one you're most interested in. You can then follow that up with "How can I get there?" From the context of your last question, the app can understand that "there" is "the indian restaurant." It even works if you switch devices, provided they're both logged in to the same account.

22
Apr
2013-04-22_17h24_53

Eric Schmidt: Google Glass Will Go On Sale In Approximately A Year, Your Responsibility To Not Be A Weirdo

Posted by in Google, News

While the Explorer Editions of Google Glass are making their way out to the lucky early adopters (with extra cash), the rest of the world is wondering when it can get its eyeballs on the product. According Eric Schmidt speaking to Radio 4, the answer is roughly a year from now.

He also believes that the technology behind Google Glass goes beyond just this one product:

"At the moment what you do is you wear it. There are tremendous numbers of applications that can be imagined - augmented reality - where you see what's going on in real-time and then we annotate that.

19
Apr
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[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 58: Toilet Phone Predator

Posted by in News, Podcast

Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 58.

Don't forget - the Android Police Podcast's live broadcast is every Thursday at 5PM PST (www.androidpolice.com/podcast). The unedited video version of the podcast can be found here - and will likely include various verbal expletives, technical snafus, tangents, and probably a good 5-10 minutes of pre-podcast banter as we prepare. Watch at your own risk!

19
Apr
djspacetiny

DJ Space Gets All Carl Sagan On Us, Lets You Create Music By Arranging Planets And Flying Through Space

Posted by in Applications, News
Last Updated: April 21st, 2013

Professional musicians, you are free to sit this one out. DJ space is probably not going to fill your needs. Unless you need to play god, turning the planets themselves into musical instruments as you conduct a cosmic electronic orchestra with naught but your fingertips. If that's something you've needed, then yes DJ space will serve your purposes quite nicely.

FL Studio this is not, however as the saying goes, "If you want to mix sweet tracks from scratch, you must first invent the universe." The app functions very similarly to Garage Band in that you select from pre-recorded loops of music and assemble them into tracks.

19
Apr
boulderdashtiny

Boulder Dash-XL Arrives On Android To Bring Back Old Memories Of Mining For Diamonds In The 80s

Posted by in Games, News
Last Updated: April 21st, 2013

While we eagerly await the arrival of Google Games (and the potential revenue that could bring), Android still remains a great home for classic games from days gone by. To wit, Boulder Dash, an 8-bit puzzler originally released for the Atari in 1984, has landed on Android. This rounds out at least an even dozen platforms the title has been ported to.

The new version brings updated graphics and touch screen controls. You can also flip into retro mode if you prefer the nostalgic view of giant pixels. The game touts at least 100 levels to play, each with its own set of traps, enemies and puzzles to get to the exit.

17
Apr
2013-04-17_16h28_43

AppAnnie: Play Store Downloads Reach Nearly 90% Of App Store Levels, iOS Still Bringing In 2.6x Revenue

Posted by in Android OS, Google, News
Last Updated: April 19th, 2013

Back in January, we learned that if you want to be a developer and avoid leaving money on the table, you need to be on both Android and iOS. One or the other isn't going to cut it. However, according to AppAnnie, if you have to choose just one platform, Android is still struggling to prove it's the one you should go with.

According to the report, Play Store downloads are nearing App Store levels, reaching close to 90% as much as the iOS store. Unfortunately, equal exposure isn't quite translating to equal revenue. As it turns out, Apple's platform is still bringing in about 2.6 times as much revenue as Google's counterpart.

16
Apr
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Motorola Design Chief Promises 'Just Right' Size Android Phones In 2H 2013, Shooting For Cross-Carrier Branding

Posted by in Google, Motorola, News

Ever since the WSJ dropped a hint about the mythical 'X Phone' back in December, the rumors have not stopped flowing. Which is great because, according to Motorola's CFO, the 18 months of product pipeline that Google acquired weren't exactly wow-ing anyone. However, according to Moto's design chief Jim Wicks, the next generation of hardware will be fantastic.

The handsets have been in the works for the last eight months (so since around August, for those counting), and will target the segments of the market that's looking for a "just right" screen size. Said Wicks:

"Certain people like a large screen, but there's a sweet spot for consumers that we're currently exceeding in the market.

16
Apr
2013-04-16_14h50_36

Google Improves Mobile Search With Easier Access To Rotten Tomatoes Ratings, Quick View Badges For Wikipedia

Posted by in Google, News

If you use Google Search on a mobile device, but prefer the web interface, then your experience just got a bit better today. For starters, if you search for Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see expandable sub sections with links to areas like movies that are in theaters. According to Google, "many sites" will have similar functionality.

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Additionally, for some searches, you'll see a blue "Quick view" badge that you can tap to get easy access to a Wikipedia page on the subject. This is different from the knowledge graph cards in that the button appears next to individual Wiki links no matter where they appear in the results.

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