Eric Ravenscraft - 44/103 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

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.

Follow @ocentertainment

Nov

LG Optimus L9 Arrives On T-Mobile, Available From Wirefly For $50, Or $80 Directly From T-Mobile

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Optimus L9, T-Mobile

Sure, it's not a Nexus 4, but not everything can be a flagship, right? If you're shopping around on T-Mobile and you want to save a bit of money, the LG Optimus L9 has arrived to give you another option. Starting at $80 (after mail-in rebate) on T-Mobile's website, or $50 via Wirefly, this mid-range device still nets you a decent 1Ghz dual-core processor, a 4.5" qHD display and a relatively beefy 2150 mAh battery.

Here are the specs:

4.5" qHD display with Gorilla Glass 2
1GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
4GB storage
2,150mAh battery
Android 4.0

It's not going to win you any super nerd cred, but for the price it's not a bad piece of hardware.

Oct

Google Docs Can Now Share Directly To Google+, Natively Embedding PDFs, Videos, And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

The integration of all the services you use from your favorite search provider just keeps on getting better. Today, Google announced that you can now share content from your Google Drive directly to Google+. It's not just a matter of a simple link, either (unless you're on mobile). A built-in viewer for PDFs, videos, slideshow presentations and more make the experience virtually seamless.

To share to Google+, you simply click the Share button like normal where you'll find the new option waiting, in addition to the usual Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter. Of course, none of the other methods have quite this level of integration and ease of use.

Oct

Google Integrates AMBER Alerts Into Search And Maps On Desktop And Mobile

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

If all this wide world of information is used for is to figure out who that one guy was in that movie you saw, it feels like a waste of a good future. Which is why it warms our hearts just a bit to see things like this: now, in both Google Search or Maps, if you search for information related to a a missing or abducted child, AMBER Alerts will now be included among your search results.

Obviously, this information is no substitute for contacting local and national authorities if someone you know can't be found or if you have information on a possibly missing or abducted child.

Oct

AT&T Lights Up New LTE Markets In Knoxville, Tulsa, And Ft. Myers

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in AT&T, News

Do you like things that go fast? Do you enjoy sphere-shaped logos? Do you live in a moderately-populated town in Tennessee, Oklahoma, or Florida? If you answered yes to these questions, have I got some great news for you! AT&T users in Knoxville and surrounding counties, Tulsa, and Ft. Myers will notice a shiny new LTE market activated in their area.

The Knoxville area in particular is receiving a fairly wide-spread rollout, getting the LTE treatment not just in Knoxville, but also "Knox County, including parts of surrounding Anderson and Blount Counties and parts of Loudon, Roane and Sevier Counties." So, who out there is seeing the new speeds?

Oct

[Update: Winners] Giveaway: Ten More 'Nom' Android Shirts Are Up For Grabs, Plus A $4 Off Sale Is Going On!

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Contests / Giveaways

Last Updated: November 15th, 2012

It's time again for another shirt giveaway and sale! Last time around we gave out five of these crowd-favorite shirts. Today, we're back with ten more! If you don't want to miss out, though, LOL Shirts is also running a sale on these three shirts. Enter coupon code 4OFFNOW to knock $4 off the normal price ($12.99). Not a bad deal.

The contest is now over. Here are the winners, chosen at random:

christina duke
David Hess
James Ebenger
Patrick Toy
Brett Knighton
Aidan Din
Damon
Derling Campos
Guy.Fawkes
Patrick Pillow

Congratulations - you will be contacted for your information in the near future!

Oct

ARCHOS Announces The 80 Cobalt, A Lower-End Dual-Core 8" ICS Tablet Without A Price Tag Yet

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in ARCHOS, News

Today, ARCHOS released details on its newest small form factor tablet, the 80 Cobalt. Clearly aimed at the lower end of the slate market, this device packs a 1.6Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage and a rather meager 1024x768 display. Fortunately, the device also includes the controversial as of late micro SD card slot.

Here's the full list of specs you care about:

Dual core @ 1.6 GHz with Quad core GPU
1GB RAM
8” 1024 x 768 display (4:3 aspect ratio)
8 GB flash memory
2MP rear camera
0.3MP front camera
Micro SD slot (SDHC compatible) Up to 64 GB
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

To put it politely, the specs don't exactly overwhelm.

Oct

ASUS Reports It's Selling Nearly A Million Nexus 7's Per Month, And That Number Is Climbing

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Nexus 7

We've been eagerly awaiting the day that we would finally hear some kind of stats on Nexus 7 sales and, finally, ASUS has let some figures slip. Apparently sales of Google's first Nexus tablet have not only been great, but are getting progressively better. While we weren't given exact numbers, the company's CFO David Chang had this to say about how the slate has done in the market:

"At the beginning, it was, for instance, 500K units a month, then maybe 600, 700K. This latest month, it was close to 1 million."

Assuming he means each month's sales, we can estimate sales have been close to 2.8 million, but it's unclear at what rate exactly the numbers have increased.

Oct

Matias Duarte Answers Questions About Jelly Bean UI And The Lack Of Micro SD Cards

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Android OS, News

Ever since Gingerbread and the Nexus S, the Android world has been in a constant and dramatic state of UI flux and we've all faced some hard questions as we adjust to new interface design. "What's the best way to layout software buttons?" "Can we live without micro SD cards?" "Where is all this new hair coming from?" Matias Duarte took to Google+ to answer two out of these three questions you have about your growing pains.

On the subject of the decision to change the UI on the Nexus 10 to be more in line with the Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 layouts:

Consistency and usability are really important to us, and that’s something we strive to improve in every new version of Android.

Oct

MOGA Controller Review: This Is How You Build An Android Controller, But Not How You Program One

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Accessories, Reviews

Touchscreens have allowed a whole new era of innovation in mobile gaming and so far it's been pretty great. Sometimes, though, you just need buttons. There are a variety of companies out there trying to create the right solution and this isn't even the first review I've done on a third-party controller. With a unique grip to hold your smartphone, though, this one actually seemed like it stood a fighting chance of not disappearing into the nearest drawer. Of course, hardware is rarely the real problem for Android controllers, is it? But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The Good

Decent size.

Oct

Google Play Magazines Launches In Canada, Because There Just Weren't Enough Announcements Today

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

We've already heard that Google was expanding their Play Movies and Play Music services today to new countries and with new content. Play Magazines isn't getting left out in the cold, though. Today, the storefront is opening up to our neighbors up north, in addition to signing extra content partners for a more robust distribution platform.

As part of the huge announcement Google put together, the company touted its magazine partnerships:

We’re now working with Time, Inc. to bring you even more magazines like InStyle, PEOPLE, TIME and others...We’re now working with all...the major U.S. magazine publishers."