Liam Spradlin - 44/99 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Besides being an avid Android fan and blogger, Liam is a photographer with a degree in both 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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Jun

Jelly Bean's Face Unlock Asks You To Blink For The Camera, Locks Out After Several Failed Attempts

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Face Unlock, a security feature introduced with Ice Cream Sandwich, while a fun concept, proved vulnerable to trickery. Specifically, the unlock method would recognize photos of your face as if they were your real face. Another issue with Face Unlock was that it ostensibly never locked users out after numerous failed attempts.

Looking to address these issues, Google did a bit of tweaking to Jelly Bean's Face Unlock. Namely, FU now features a "Liveness check" option which, as the name suggests, makes sure you're a real, live person before unlocking your device. It does this by asking the user to blink during facial recognition.

Jun

MLB.com At Bat 12 Now Just $9.99 In The Play Store – See MLB Highlights, News, Standings, And More From Your Phone Or Tablet

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

MLB.com's At Bat 2012 app, which we covered at its launch, and which bills itself as "the #1 sports app of all time" and "the official app of Major League Baseball," has seen a rather significant price reduction, recently sliding from $14.99 to just $9.99 in the Play Store.

The app, for those baseball fans who have until now not discovered this gem, is essentially a one-stop source for mobile updates and supplemental media related to games both in progress and those that are already over. Offering radio broadcasts, free "Game of the Day" video, and in-progress video highlights, this app is definitely a must-have for fans of MLB.

Jun

[Polls] Google I/O – What Do You Think Of Google's New Nexus Devices?

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, Nexus Q (Steelhead), Polls

With the introduction of the Nexus Q and Nexus 7 devices at Google I/O yesterday, one (big) question remains – how will the market react to these products?

The Nexus Q, a social media streaming device is undoubtedly a cool gadget – it allows you and your friends to stream content in your living room by interacting with one centralized device – the Q makes putting your Play Store content on your TV or external speakers an absolute breeze.

The Nexus 7, meanwhile, represents the long-rumored 7-inch tablet produced by Google at an affordable price. With a 7" IPS display, quad-core Tegra 3 processor, and (of course) Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it is no doubt an attractive device – but is Google taking the right approach to entering a direct competitor to the Kindle Fire into the tablet market?

Jun

Missed The Google I/O Day 1 Keynote? Catch It Again On YouTube

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, News, Videos

Google I/O 2012 kicked off yesterday with a bang, to be sure. Even after rounding up all of yesterday's news, there were still some things that can be better understood by listening to/watching the keynote speakers themselves (not to mention it was a pretty great show to watch). After all, yesterday saw a ton of news – from two new Nexus devices to the introduction of Android Jelly Bean, Google Glass, and updates to the Play Store and Google+.

As in years previous, the full keynote from day 1 is now available for your viewing pleasure through YouTube. Without further ado, Google I/O day 1 keynote:

Jun

Google I/O Day One Roundup – Jelly Bean, Google Glass, Two New Nexus Devices, And So Much More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, ASUS, Google, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7, Nexus Q (Steelhead), Tablets, Videos

Google's I/O conference, in usual form, kicked off with an explosive start. The day's news saw the revelation of things we've been waiting to see for months. Things we've heard rumor of, wished for, and even (quite accurately) predicted. With all the things we saw, it only seems right to round up all the day's news in one place. Grab a snack, because we've got a lot to talk about.

Jelly Bean

One of the day's I/O show stoppers was undoubtedly the announcement of Android 4.1 aka Jelly Bean. I have to be honest, with a ".1" update, I wasn't expecting too much improvement, but I was certainly wrong in that estimation.

Jun

SDK Tools Revision 20 And ADT20 Now Available – Developers, Start Your Engines

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Coinciding with the announcement of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Android developers can now pull down a new revision of Android's SDK tools – revision 20, along with a new version of the ADT Plugin, also r20 (which Eclipse users will need to use SDK r20).

The revised SDK tools bring several improvements. One of the notable additions to the SDK tools is System Trace (otherwise known as systrace), a tool (included in Project Butter) that helps monitor system activities, allowing developers to pinpoint graphical rendering or other issues. For those wondering just what else is new, take it from the revision notes found at Android's Developer site:

General notes:

Added new Device Monitor application, grouping Android debugging tools into a single application, including ddms, traceview, hierarchyviewer and Tracer for GLES.

Jun

Jelly Bean Feature Closer Look: Android's Camera Receives A Few (Extremely Useful) Tweaks

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

One of the bigger changes we saw in the jump from Gingerbread/Honeycomb to Ice Cream Sandwich was in the camera app. ICS not only brought a streamlined, more subtle design to an app that so badly needed it, but also introduced zero shutter-lag, meaning the time between pressing the shutter release and capturing a photo was pushed down to (almost) zero. In fact in many cases, the time between touch and capture is imperceptible. This was huge.

At today's Jelly Bean announcement, however, we learned that Jelly Bean treats users to even more enhancements to the camera app. While they are rather minor tweaks, they enhance the app's productivity and usability by a lot, something that seems to be a common thread in Jelly Bean's enhancements.

Jun

Jelly Bean Feature Closer Look: Project Butter Means Enhanced Animations, Transitions, And More Responsive Apps That "Anticipate" Your Touch

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Videos

Another major enhancement we've just learned about with the announcement of Jelly Bean is called Project Butter. Butter (so named likely due to the colloquialism "smooth as butter") represents a new, more efficient processing framework for Android's latest and greatest iteration, making the OS much faster (allowing animation up to 60fps). Android 4.1 also makes apps more responsive, reducing touch latency and "anticipating where your finger will be at the time of screen refresh."

"How is such an enhancement possible?" I can almost hear you wondering. Take it from the Android developer site:

To ensure a consistent framerate, Android 4.1 extends vsync timing across all drawing and animation done by the Android framework.

Jun

Jelly Bean Feature Closer Look: Expandable, Interactive, All-Around Enhanced Notifications

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Jelly Bean 4.1, News

"Android has always put you in control when it comes to staying notified and connected. Now you can take action directly from the notifications shade," says Android's updated "What's New" page. Indeed, today's Jelly Bean announcement saw a number of improvements to the already handy notification system we've come to know and love in previous iterations of Android. Not only can the new notifications system display larger, richer notifications, developers can create actionable notification with interactive controls for telephony, music, and more.

With a new and improved Notification Builder, apps can create notifications with a height of up to 256dp.

Jun

Viggle For Android Comes Out Of Beta And Lands In The Play Store – Earn Rewards From Your Couch By Checking In To Popular TV Shows

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Viggle, which pairs a great idea with a funny name, is an app we covered last month during its beta period. The TV check-in app, which has already seen great success on iOS, recently landed in the Play Store though, finally out of beta.

For those not familiar with the app, Viggle essentially listens to your TV's audio (at your command), and figures out which show(s) you're watching by comparing the audio it heard to a database, rewarding points depending on the programming (for instance, promoted shows get more points). Those points can then be redeemed for tangible rewards, including everything from Starbucks gift cards to sweepstakes entries or hulu PLUS subscriptions.