Liam Spradlin

Besides being an avid Android fan and blogger, Liam is a fashion photographer with a degree in Anthropology and Sociology. He can usually be found reading through blogs, taking photos, or studying ancient pottery. Liam has been known to leave on international trips at a moment's notice, and can't resist a new challenge.

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Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 6] Angel Dialer Offers An Alternative To The Stock Dialer For Those Who Like Simplistic, Pre-Defined Interfaces

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Joining the vast crowd of dialer replacements in the Android Market, our hunt has brought us to Angel Dialer, an uncomplicated app that effectively replaces the stock Android dialer, but which may have compromised necessary functionality for a no-frills implementation.

At A Glance

While Angel Dialer takes a concerted stance against superfluous features, its simplicity is not always a plus. While its features work, and it provides the same basic functionality we've seen before, it is lacking a few things that would take it up a level, and make it a decent dialer replacement. As it stands, I wouldn't say it's in the running for my day-to-day dialer app, but it does have some positive points.

Oct

Sony's PRS-T1 Reader Hacked To Run Full Android... On Its E-Ink Display

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Dev, Mods, News, Tablets

The Sony Reader PRS-T1, a 6" e-ink reader that debuted earlier this year, has been hacked to run Android. It's a known fact that the Reader has been running Android from the get-go, but it runs a heavily modified build, and many thought that it would never see true Android goodness. Any doubt users had, however, can now be laid to rest - an unnamed hacker has got the T1 running Android with AWLauncher, and a bevvy of reading apps in tow.

While this is certainly interesting news, don't get too excited just yet - the build is still very much a work in progress.

Oct

Verizon 4G LTE Down, Call Centers Swamped - No ETA On Repairs

Posted by Liam Spradlin in 4G, News, Verizon Wireless

Twitter is absolutely abuzz about Verizon's LTE network at the moment, but not because it's blazingly fast or convenient for on-the-go web browsing. No, Twitter is currently blowing up because it seems that 4G is down for most (if not all) VZW subscribers. For many 4G users, 3G is also having issues, likely a side-effect caused by Verizon's 4G devices. Adding to the flood of tweets, reader J Weissman has also confirmed the outage, tipping us just moments ago.

Known Verizon insider black_man_x has chimed in too, adding that Verizon's call centers are swamped at the moment.

This echoes a thread on Reddit by Vzw_insider, who also explains that Verizon currently has no ETA for repair completion.

Oct

Mozilla Set To Ditch XUL In Firefox For Android In Favor Of A Native UI, Better Performance

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, News

Jonathan Nightingale, Mozilla's director of Firefox Engineering, announced recently that Firefox's Android iteration will be moving away from XUL implementation in favor of a native Android UI. Nightingale, seeking to reassure users who may be wary of change, stated "Firefox on Android is a critical part of supporting the open web, and this decision puts us in a position to build the best Firefox possible."

For those not in the know, XUL stands for "XML User Interface Language," and is essentially a language that controls Firefox's front end architecture, creating various UI elements and instances. Mozilla's use of XUL in its Android version of Firefox is what leads to the relatively long startup times users have experienced until now.

Oct

Device Frame Generator Allows You To Drop Screenshots Into Actual Android Device Frames, Giving Beautiful, Polished Results

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Tips

Roman Nurik, an Android engineer, recently gave the Android Asset Studio an awesome new tool that allows users to create gorgeous, high-res PNG images of any screenshot framed by actual press asset photos of Android devices.

The resulting images are, well, pretty. Gone are the days when developers or designers have to spend time in Photoshop layering up images and fabricating gloss, just to get an appealing graphic to show an app in action. Heck, even if you aren't a developer, this tool is still fun to play around with.

At the moment the selection of device frames is limited to the Nexus One, Nexus S, and Motorola Xoom, but it sounds as though more devices will be coming soon.

Oct

iOnRoad Takes (Most Of) The Thinking Out Of Safe Driving, Offers Augmented Reality Using Your Android's Camera

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Bringing to the Android Market what I consider one of the only useful augmented reality apps in existence, iOnRoad has introduced iOnRoad Augmented Driving. This app utilizes your Android device's rear camera to have a look at traffic in front of you, and, using complex visual algorithms, it determines headway, speed, direction, and potential traffic threats.

What's more, the app still keeps watching, and keeps you abreast of any potential dangers while running in the background, meaning you can switch to your music player, messaging app, or phone, and still get alerts from iOnRoad.

On top of its incredible safety features, the apps also offers social integration, allowing you to unlock (and compete for) driving achievements (which seem to be geared toward safe driving), and upload snapshots of interesting sights, reckless drivers, etc.

Oct

New Dropbox Beta Brings Improved UI, Favorites, Renaming, Bulk Upload, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Dropbox, arguably one of the best file storage/sharing services around, recently released the new beta version of their app for Android, making it even easier to access files on the go that may otherwise be spread across several devices.

Besides bug fixes, the new beta includes the ability to store "favorite" files for quick offline viewing, bulk upload for multiple photos and videos, renaming of files and folders, upload from and export to local storage, and last but not least, a hugely improved UI which includes a more appealing gallery view and quick, one-tap access to file options.

Oct

Samsung/Google's Nexus/Ice Cream Sandwich Event May Be Back On, This Time In Hong Kong

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus / Nexus Prime, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Rumors, Samsung

Since Google and Samsung called off their event (which was set to announce Ice Cream Sandwich and the next Nexus device), the rumor mill has been going at full tilt. Today, however, a more positive rumor has spun out: Engadget reports that "an inside source" has indicated October 19th as the new date for the Unpacked event.

The source also tells Engadget that the event will be held in Hong Kong, and is timed to line up with AsiaD: All Things Digital, taking place next week. This tip, of course, has not been confirmed, but with time ticking away until the alleged date, we're sure to hear something soon either way.

Oct

Replay Games Working On A Remake Of Leisure Suit Larry For Android, Others

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Games, News

You may remember Leisure Suit Larry - an "adventure game," following a middle-aged man in his pursuit of attractive women, navigating through pixelated environments featuring up to 16 colors.

Replay Games is working on reviving the risqué mid-80s hit, and bringing it to a variety of platforms, including Android.

Replay says that if all goes well with their initial remake, they will look into remaking the rest of the series as well, for a total of seven games, and potentially making direct ports of the originals as well.

Right now the only information we have regarding release is that Replay plans to debut the first game in early 2012.

Oct

T-Mobile Announces Enhanced Functionality For Bobsled, Its Universal Web Calling Service

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, T-Mobile

T-Mobile announced today some interesting updates to Bobsled. In collaboration with Vivox, Bobsled is T-Mobile's bid at providing "a universal way to communicate however and whenever when connected to the Web."

First in the lineup of T-Mobile's improvements to its Bobsled service is the ability to call, message, and voice message their Facebook contacts at any time. To implement this service, T-Mobile offers the ability to turn on a sort of Bobsled toolbar (in the form of a Facebook app) - a tab that displays in your browser (meaning you see it almost all the time) and slides along web pages, allowing for quick access to calling options.