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.

10
Oct
g tiny

Google+ Mobile App Now Supports Page Management, New Widget, And One Tap Photo Access

Posted by in Applications, News

It seems like you can't go a day anymore without something new being added to Google+. Today, the mobile app is seeing an update that brings some much-requested features, including the ability to manage Pages from mobile. The method is a little wonky. Unlike on the web version, you can't just hop over to a page you're managing. You have to manually log out then log back in, at which point you will be asked what profile or page you want to control. It's bothersome, but at least it works.

2012-10-11 00.00.34 2012-10-10 23.59.46 2012-10-11 00.01.46

The new app also brings an updated widget that looks a bit nicer than the old one.

10
Oct
office logo

Microsoft Allegedly Planning Native Office Apps For Android For Release In March 2013

Posted by in Applications, News
Last Updated: October 15th, 2012

According to a Czech press release unearthed by The Verge, Microsoft may be readying native Office apps for Android. As of right now, the only programs that have mobile versions on the Play Store are OneNote and Lync. Otherwise known as "the ones very few people care about." If this report is to be believed, though, we may see native versions of the entire Office suite.

According to the Verge's translations, Microsoft said this:

"In addition to Windows, Office will be also available on other operating systems, Windows Phone, Windows RT, Mac OS, Android, iOS and Symbian"

Redmond, by way of the Czech Republic, also pointed out that there would be new versions of its Office Web Apps.

10
Oct
chaostiny

Square Enix Releases Chaos Rings In The US, An RPG Designed For Mobile That's Not Final Fantasy, Still Pricey At $13

Posted by in Games, News

If you can say nothing else about Square Enix, the company sure is raising the bar on both Android game prices and scope. With the recent Final Fantasy ports, mobile gamers with some cash to spare have had the opportunity to spend a considerable amount of time in mythical lands leveling up and fighting outlandish enemies. If you're looking for something in that neighborhood that you haven't played before, though, Chaos Rings has finally been ported to Android, and it looks fantastic.

Chaos Rings centers around teams of characters that all join the Ark Arena to do battle. Each person has their own plot (one, it seems, really likes the idea of immortality!) and the overall plot of the arena itself only unfolds if you've completed the individual storyline for all the combatants.

09
Oct
iknowyoutiny

iKnowU Keyboard Offers Phrase Prediction, Next Letter Highlights And Gestures To Make You A More Efficient Typist

Posted by in Applications, News

There are no shortage of keyboard replacements on the market. Between SwiftKey, Swype, and the various manufacturer-skinned versions, you can't help but have three or four options on your phone. Today's latest entrant, iKnowU, still manages to stand out with the ability to predict entire phrases and highlighting of the next letters it thinks you're going to type. Pretty impressive.

http://youtu.be/IGPaEAnMuAg

Of course, the feature that catches our eye most of all is phrase prediction. SwiftKey is widely known for its next-word anticipation engine that aims to guess what you want to write next. iKnowU take this one step further, recognizing that words are just one building block of language.

09
Oct
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Online Football Manager Helps You Fulfill Your Secret Fantasy To Run A Football (Soccer) Franchise

Posted by in Games, News

Back in April, we reported that SEGA released Football Manager Handheld 2012, a game that allows you to simulate what it would be like to run a soccer football team. Of course, I honestly couldn't tell you five differences between futbol and handegg, so I may not be the best judge of how fun these games are. Then again, I used to play a game where I pretended to be the owner of a large hotel. To each his own.

The game offers pretty in-depth control over your team, including the ability to set and change line-ups, expand your home stadium, and even go scouting for new talent.

09
Oct
music1

Samsung's Galaxy Music Is A Low-End 3" Smartphone Running ICS With A Dedicated Music Button - Because Why Not?

Posted by in Galaxy Music, News

We can easily get caught up in the mad scramble for the latest and greatest, so it's easy to lose track of the fact that low-end smartphones also have a place in the world. For this one, we'll let you decide. Who wants a smartphone with a 3" (yes, that is three inches) 240x320 TFT display, a 3MP rear camera, an unspecified "powerful" processor and 512MB of RAM? Before you decide, I should also point out that this phone has a dedicated music button and, for some bizarre reason, the spec sheet lists a WVGA projector (9 lumens), though it seems incredibly likely that this is a mistake.

08
Oct
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Google Releases 'Tablet App Quality Checklist' To Help Guide Developers On Best Tablet Practices

Posted by in Google, News

In the ongoing effort to make apps better on Android, Google has released another new guide for the developers who may be looking for guidance on just how to build a great tablet-oriented app. The piece has some fairly detailed information, including how much to adjust padding of UI elements and how to target different screen sizes and resolutions. There is also more broad guidance on how to make the most of larger screen real-estate.

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An example of how to rearrange UI panes when switching orientations.

One thing that becomes clear as you read this advice is that the company doesn't want everyone developing for the Nexus 7 and ignoring other form factors.

08
Oct
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[New Game] Wild Blood, Gameloft's First Unreal Engine-Based Game, Lands On The Play Store For $6.99

Posted by in Games, News

We've been waiting on Wild Blood for a while now, and it's finally arrived. Gameloft's first game built on the Unreal engine tells the story of Sir Lancelot and his quest to defeat the evil Morgana and save Guinevere. Sounds fancy, huh? The retelling of the classic story even features an 8-person multiplayer mode. We'll leave you to make your own round table jokes.

The visuals look fantastic right off the bat. Or, sword as the case may be. We've seen some gameplay trailers before and if you've ever played World of Warcraft or Diablo, picking up this game should be pretty comfortable.

08
Oct
n7storage

Japanese Customer Shares Photos Of A 32GB Nexus 7 That Arrived In A 16GB Nexus 7 Box

Posted by in News, Rumors

Well, that's one way to announce a new device. Today on Twitter, Japanese user @oppese posted two photos of a Nexus 7 tablet. The first photo shows the storage screen displaying 27.58GB of usable space (indicating a 32GB model), and the second shows packaging for a 16GB Nexus 7. We've heard before that some stores are setting up a place for the higher capacity Nexus 7 on their shelves, but it appears this unit was mistakenly sent to a customer ahead of the full launch.

n7storage n7package

Of course, it's not impossible to fake screenshots like this, but since we already have plenty of leaked info from retailers to corroborate, it's looking more and more like this device is real.

08
Oct
nexuslogo

The Customization Center, Project Roadrunner Rumor Was An Elaborate Hoax And Excellent Rumor Mill Case Study

Posted by in News, Rumors

The rumor mill giveth and the rumor mill taketh away. Late Sunday night, a commenter on our site posted a surprising confession: he was the source of several rumors regarding Android 4.2. Initially, we confirmed that this commenter was the same who had sent us some different yet equally fantastic stories. Our batch hinted that Robert Downey Jr. might have been hired to introduce the new Nexii for the next couple years, for example. Now, Android & Me has posted a retraction of the initial article stating that Android 4.2 would contain a Customization Center and Project Roadrunner.

However, the commenter known as Peter claimed that a certain set of Android rumors were not a part of his elaborate and entertaining ruse.

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