Eric Ravenscraft - 77/103 - 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.

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Jun

[Rumor] Amazon May Be Ready To Launch Its Appstore In Europe Very Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Amazon, News

So far, Amazon's Appstore, which competes with Google's own Play Store on Android apps, has been stuck within U.S. borders. A report from All Things D, however, says that may be about to change soon. The online retail company, the site says, is preparing to launch in Europe. No details on when beyond "later this summer" were available.

All Things D speculates that this might herald the arrival of the Kindle Fire, however it also rightly points out that launching a device in a new country is more complicated than launching a software storefront. We're a little skeptical that an international launch of the Appstore will mean the Kindle Fire is heading to our friends across the pond.

Jun

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PSA: T-Mobile Will Begin Rolling Out Android 4.0.3 To The Galaxy S II Tonight At 11PM EST Via Kies

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy S II, News

We already knew that today was the big day for T-Mobile's Galaxy S II to receive Ice Cream Sandwich. T-Mobile has just let on that the rollout will begin tonight at 11pm EST. The update will be done via Kies, so unfortunately the update won't be showing up over the air. Hope you've got a microUSB cable handy.

The update is just slightly behind the 4.0.4 that other devices have been receiving, but users probably won't be complaining too much. So, if you've got the T-Mobile Galaxy S II, be standing by your desktop tonight. If you don't already have Kies installed on your machine, now would be a good time to get a jump on that.

Jun

[Deal Alert] Amazon And Wirefly Offering $40 Credit On Your Bill If You Buy A Verizon 4G Phone Right Now

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Deals, News

Who doesn't love a good deal? Today, Amazon and Wirefly are offering another one today to potential or current Verizon customers: a $40 off your bill if you buy or upgrade to a Verizon 4G phone this week. New customers as well as old will get the $40 credit on their next bill, which is a pretty significant chunk of your bill.

The deal will be going on from now until midnight on Thursday, June 14th, so if you were planning on upgrading, now would be a good time to do it. There are, as usual, some pretty good deals going on in the Amazon Wireless store as well, including the LTE Galaxy Nexus for a penny.

Jun

[Deal Alert] Get A Free Voucher For $30 Off A Kindle Fire, Plus $5 Amazon Instant Video Credit

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Deals, News

Potential Kindle Fire owners, pay attention! Amazon's offering a free $30 voucher code towards the purchase of a Kindle Fire to anyone who asks right now. As a bonus, once you order your Kindle Fire, you'll receive $5 worth of Amazon Instant Video credit. Pretty sweet deal!

The current list price for the Kindle Fire is still $199, so this voucher will bring it down to the extremely palatable price point of $170. The voucher is incredibly easy to order, too, and costs nothing, so even if you're just considering purchasing the device, go grab the voucher now. Worst case, you never use it.

Jun

Quiet, Please! Is An 8-Bit Adventure Puzzle Game That's Just Entertaining Enough To Spend A Dollar On

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

There aren't enough 8-bit adventure games in the world. This is just one of those facts of life you learn to deal with growing up. Thankfully, there are still a few devotees to the genre, like Nostatic Software. The developer has released a delightfully colorful 8-bit adventure game about a young girl with the world's most sensitive ears who just wants everyone in the house to be quiet for a bit so she can go to sleep.

Your character, who is never given a name, arrives home to find that every member of her family, as well as some inanimate objects, are making noise.

Jun

MetroPCS Launches The Activa 4G, Huawei's First LTE Android Phone In The U.S.

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Huawei, MetroPCS, News

It may not get the tech world's heart all a-flutter to hear that MetroPCS is launching a Huawei phone, but the world needs budget phones and networks too! The duo is teaming up this time to bring no fewer than four gees to consumers for the first time in a Huawei device. The Activa 4G is a modestly spec'd phone, with a 3.5" HVGA display, a 5 megapixel camera, and running Android 2.3. It's still sad to see phones shipping with Gingerbread, but on budget devices, it's not as unexpected.

The device, predictably, is pretty cheap. At a normal price of $250, the phone comes down to $150 after a $50 mail-in, and another $50 instant rebate.

Jun

Splashtop Thinks You're Going To Spend $25 (Or More!) To Pretend Your Android Tablet Runs Windows 8

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Splashtop makes some great remote desktop software. I like Splashtop. So please friends, readers, and developers over at Splashtop, keep in mind my love for the company as a whole when I say the following sentence: Charging users $25 to try out Windows 8 on an Android tablet is an absurd, opportunistic, rip off of an idea. Most disappointingly, it will work for a small minority of users. And their money spends just the same as any other.

The madness begins when you discover that the $25 entry fee to the Windows 8 tablet show is a steep discount.

Jun

ClamBook Is A Lapdock For Your Android Phone That's Better Than (And Is Compatible With) Webtop

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

Motorola introduces a novel idea with its Atrix phone: a lapdock. The idea was simple. All these Android app can be extremely productive, so why limit them to a single, small screen? Plug your phone into the lapdock, use its frankly-over-powered processor to run a larger screen with a keyboard and trackpad. Well, that's exactly what the ClamBook does. Only it does it way better.

As you can see in the renders above, when most phones are plugged in, you're presented with a tablet-styled UI. The device doesn't appear to be touchscreen, but Android has had support for mouse functionality since Android 3.1, so you won't be stuck.

Jun

Foursquare Version 5.0 Hits The Play Store, Gets Rebuilt From The Ground Up

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Foursquare's mobile app hit the big five-point-oh today, with a brand new overhaul that's so comprehensive, the What's New section on the Play Store gave up and said "Go check it out for yourself!" The app has gotten a whole new ICS-styled look, which just looks fantastic. In addition, the app has revamped the "Explore" tab that allows you to see what's around you, encouraging more discovery, instead of mindlessly checking in whenever you happen to go to Starbucks.

Foursquare is clearly looking to engage users more with the update, as the maps section shows. You can now see your friends' locations overlaid on a map that also highlights points of interest in your area.

Jun

Tactus Technology Demos A Prototype Android Touchscreen Display With Disappearing Physical Keys

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

If there's one downside to the proliferation of touchscreen technology, it's the lack of tactile feedback. Tactus is one of many companies that aims to alleviate this problem. This week, at SID 2012, the company demoed a product that offers disappearing physical touch keys. As seen in the demo video here, these buttons can raise on command and disappear when they're not needed. Which sounds like something out of science fiction.

At the moment, the display can only be configured for preset layouts. Meaning, you configure it for a landscape QWERTY layout, that's all you'll get. No gaming controls, no dialer configurations.