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As some of you may have noticed, I'm Android Police's resident AOKP nut, running the popular custom ROM on both on my Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7. Good news, everyone: Android Open Kang Project has reached Milestone 1 of its Jelly Bean release, and official downloads are now available for all flavors of Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, and Nexus S. More supported devices should be updated tonight and tomorrow.
Yesterday my colleague and fellow Android fanatic David Ruddock took a long look at what was revealed in the leaked Nexus 10 images, examining what will almost certainly be the Android tablet interface for Jelly Bean 4.2. I have a lot of respect for David, but in this case I think he's wrong. And since there's little doubt at this point that the Samsung Nexus 10 will have the same basic UI structure as the Nexus 7, I'll go so far as to say that Google is wrong too.
There's a startling amount of crossover between people who use Android for their mobile needs and Windows and Xbox for their desktop and console gaming. The SmartGlass app has been a definite hit for Xbox 360 users who also have Windows Phone 7 devices... all eight of them. Now Android users can join the fun: Microsoft's released the official SmartGlass app for Android, available for free in the Play Store.
We just heard that Rockstar is planning on bringing the excellent Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to Android later this year, but it looks like they've got even more good news. Today you can get Grand Theft Auto III, the original sandbox game, for just $.99. It's normally $4.99, but to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vice City, you can pick it up for a special price for an unspecified time.
Good news for old-school gamers on the go: the latest update from the iMpulse Bluetooth controller has added quite a bit of features, making it more attractive than ever. The creators of the Kickstarter project released a new design render, showing off a switch from a PlayStation Portable-style analog stick to a more conventional D-pad, which should work better for a wider variety of games. They've also added two "shoulder" buttons (actually on the back of the tiny device) for more flexibility, and the housing has been slimmed down, making the iMpulse look considerably less like a brick. This should give just about the same level of control, if not comfort, as the much-loved SNES gamepad.
If you've got fond memories of speeding through "don't call it Miami" Vice City to the sounds of a drugged-up Scottish hair band bickering in the back of your limousine, good news: you'll soon be able to take the experience with you. Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar has announced that as part of the 10th anniversary celebration for GTA: Vice City, they'll be releasing mobile versions for both Android and iOS later this year. Vice City's release will come about a year after the mobile version of the original crime sandbox, Grand Theft Auto III.
Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 3 weeks or so.
Despite the fact that tens of thousands of games are available on Android, most of them are easily placed within genres that have been around for decades, or they simply copy the conventions of mobile-friendly games (tower defense, runners, physics games, etc). IT's refreshing to see a game like Sumioni: Demon Arts, which combines traditional platforming with the kind of touch-enabled gameplay mechanics that's only been possible for a few years. It's a shame, then, that it has to come from a PlayStation Vita port... with the high price tag that usually accompanies console games.
The rich, laminated oak on an antique writing desk. The captivating sheen on a mug of Bolivian coffee. The slight give as your hand caresses the supple exterior of an exquisitely-tanned saddle. If all these things put you in mind of a new smartphone, then you're a very strange person, and the prime consumer target for the latest flavor of Samsung's Galaxy S III. The "Amber Brown" version of the Galaxy S III is now available directly from Verizon, apparently ready to ship. It's the same price as the white, blue and black models, at $199/$599 for the contract and non-contract versions respectively, in 16GB capacity only.
There's a lot of great things about custom ROMs, but one of the pitfalls is that you need to manually check for updates and install them. Those of you running the popular AOKP (Android Open Kang Project) family of ROMs will definitely want to check out Kangerator, a new app designed to compliment everyone's favorite unicorn-powered Android build. The brand new release is available from the Google Play Store now, free of charge.
Tuesday is traditionally the release date for new games, but those of you who have an Nvidia Tegra-powered smartphone or tablet can get your hands on two brand new titles this evening. The first, Sumioni: Demon Arts, is a port from the PlayStation Vita game of the same name released this spring. Razor: Salvation is an iOS convert, gracing Android after its debut in the summer. Sumioni is a pricey $12.83, while Razor is $2.03 with in-app purchases, both prices in USD. Non-Tegra owners need not apply for either, at least not yet.
If you hadn't noticed, Dropbox and Google Drive have been having a friendly rivalry ever since the latter popped up on Android. The latest update to the Dropbox app (2.2) makes good on the additional photo features they've been adding over the last year by revamping the user interface, especially for the photos and videos automatically updated to your cloud storage drive. The UI is now more of a gallery than a bare-bones file browser, thanks to the new Photos tab. See for yourself:
If you're among the many, many potential Nexus 7 users who think that 8GB (or even 16GB) is a little on the wimpy side for a modern tablet, you may have cause to celebrate soon enough. The Spanish storefront of Phone House (the international arm of UK-based Carphone Warehouse) has a promotional page up for the Google-branded tablet in a 32GB flavor, listing for 279€. My Spanish is a little rusty, but it looks like the typical "sign up for more information" pre-sale page. No date is mentioned.
Justice may be sweet, but when it comes to patents, it's not usually swift. In the case of Apple's multiple, far-reaching patent disputes with Samsung, it took them a few weeks to get an injunction on the Galaxy Nexus based on the controversial results of the billion-dollar patent infringement suit. After Samsung took its case to the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals, the higher judiciary power has sided with the Korean manufacturer. The judge in the case accepted their claims that the relatively low sales numbers of the Galaxy Nexus didn't pose a threat to Apple's business, and that sales of the device couldn't be directly connected to the offending patent feature (universal search).
Good morning, owners of the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III Epic 4G Touch. When you get your breath back, check your device's update function in the settings menu. Sprint's got a maintenance update, assuming that you're running the latest stock and non-rooted version of Ice Cream Sandwich. Software version S:D710.10S.FI27 adds only a few bug fixes to the email, MMS, and VPN apps, so don't get your hopes up for Jelly Bean any time soon.
When my fellow Android Police writers and editors finally talked me into getting a Nexus 7, I set out to find a case immediately. The Nexus 7 is tough, but I've lost too many phones and tablets to cracked screens and water damage to take chances. At first I investigated Asus' official Nexus 7 case available on the Google Play Store, but a plastic build with no stand turned me off, as did a lack of magnetic sleep function. After wading through quite a lot of options on Amazon, I settled on the Poetic Slimline Portfolio case as a (hopefully) ideal mixture between price, finish, and function.
Android users tend to balk at apps that cost more than $5 or so, but in this case it might be worth shelling out, at least if you're a SlingBox owner. The mobile client for the popular media streaming gadget has been given a temporary price cut: a whole 50% off! ...which sounds a lot better than $14.99, half its normal price of $30. On top of that, there are separate versions of the app for smartphones and tablets. The smartphone version should work on any device (tablets included) running Froyo or later, while the tablet app is only for Honeycomb and above.
I have a special place in my heart for real time strategy games. Some of my fondest memories are playing with my dad in our cobbled-together home LAN with games like Age of Empires and Red Alert. But until last week, the last time I had seen a quality mobile RTS was Warfare Incorporated back on my Palm Tungsten T3, almost a decade ago. But now there's a real alternative: Desert Stormfront, from Noble Master Games, is worth a look from any dedicated strategy fan. It emulates the look and feel of Command & Conquer (with a few important changes) but wraps it all up in what's probably the best touch interface for an RTS available at the moment.
You can't deny that Angry Birds is the biggest franchise going in mobile gaming, racking up hundreds of millions of downloads across its various platforms. It was only a matter of time before developer Rovio's licensing ambitions took it beyond some logical tie-ins (like Dreamworks' 2011 kid flick Rio). On November 8th, the aggravated avians will be going where pretty much every single major franchise has gone before: to the Star Wars universe.
I'm going to start this review out with a gigantic disclaimer: I used PlayStation Mobile on a rooted Nexus 7, per Artem's instructions, hardware that it wasn't technically designed for. The service should run on just about any (rooted) Android device, as well as natively on most recent Sony phones and tablets. At least some of the games in the store are also available on the PlayStation Vita. Other Android users are having trouble (even I had to flash to a stock, rooted backup), so stability and performance may certainly have been somewhat off while I used the service.