Liam Spradlin
Contributing since August, 2011
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1523articles
Page 69
About Liam Spradlin
Liam loves Android, design, user experience, and travel. He doesn't love ill-proportioned letter forms, advertisements made entirely of stock photography, and writing biographical snippets.
Latest Articles
Shadowgun, a game we recently reviewed, is a Tegra-straining, visually impressive, polished action game that has been quickly garnering attention since it was announced. Looking to take players' experience over the top, MadFinger Games opened a thread on their own forums earlier this month, indicating that they were working hard on multiplayer capabilities for Shadowgun, asking for users' "wishes, opinions, or ideas."
Adorama, one of the more popular online purveyors of photo equipment (and other electronics), are offering a couple of awesome deals on Archos' 80 G9 tablets, selling the dual-core 1GHz 8GB model, as well as its 1.5GHz, 16GB counterpart for $250 each. Of course, since the 1.5GHz model was delayed, your purchase will essentially count as a pre-order, but $250 for this power-packed tablet is practically a steal, taking a cool $80 off the original price tag.
Corning, the wizards behind Gorilla Glass, have done it again - earlier this week, the glass giant announced Lotus Glass, a new, durable glass designed specifically for high-performance electronic displays.
For those unable to wait on the Galaxy Nexus, Samsung's Nexus S can still hold up against the competition in many ways. It may only pack a single-core processor, but it's a Nexus phone, meaning it is still one of Google's flagship Android devices, and will have active development and timely updates for a while yet. If you've been patiently waiting for your shot at a bargain on the Nexus S, now's your chance - Mobile Daily Steals is offering this beauty (unlocked) for just $299.99 with an international warranty, about $60 lower than Amazon's lowest price (without warranty).
The Adventures of Tintin is certainly one of the most enduring comic book series, making its debut in 1929, and finally finding its way to the silver screen in 2011. Gameloft has expanded Tintin's domain recently, by releasing The Adventures of Tintin into the Android Market, bringing the wunderkind's sleuthing prowess and action-infused storyline to the palm of your hand.
The main factor that has kept me from buying a windshield mount for my Android phone or tablet is the fact that, for the most part, each device requires its own mount, adding a significant amount of clutter to my window.
Last month we saw an unlocked version of Samsung's Galaxy SII at Mobile Daily Steals for a cool $100 off its original price. If you were hoping to get an ever so slightly deeper discount on Samsung's hottest smartphone to date (still waiting on the Galaxy Nexus), your chance has arrived. For the next 24 hours, a "limited quantity" of SIIs are available on eBay for just $489.99.
It looks like Gameloft has done it again, cooking up an awesome new game for Android. The makers of such hits as BackStab, and the N.O.V.A. series, released today the first official launch trailer for their new game - Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation.
Tonight, Samsung Mobile and T-Mobile announced the Exhibit II 4G, a new 4G smartphone aimed at the budget-conscious subscriber. The Exhibit II 4G will be the first no-annual-contract 4G smartphone sold at most Walmart stores, and is set for an October 27th release.
Well, it happened - the slide-to-unlock patent Apple has been requesting was granted this morning by the US Patent & Trademark Office, meaning almost any device in America using a sliding unlock mechanism is now infringing on Apple's patent unless otherwise ruled.
There's been a lot of buzz over Sprint's LTE plans lately, but the company's vice president of network development and engineering, Iyad Tarazi has just added more fuel to the fire, indicating that Sprint plans to deploy LTE-Advanced in a 10x10 configuration by the first half of 2013, using its 800MHz spectrum, offering download speeds of around 12-15 MB/s.
Continuing on the quest for the perfect dialer to replace Android's stock phone application, I've come across Contapps Contacts & Dialer, an app I had never heard of until I began scouring the market. For a free dialer app, it has a lot to offer, and I'm surprised that it isn't more popular.
It looks like there's finally been a new development in the Oracle vs. Google fight. For those who may be out of the loop, Oracle (who owns Sun and the Java programming language) have had patent infringement and copyright lawsuits boiling against Google for quite some time now. The patent claims are essentially related to Google's use of Java in the Android platform. Oracle claims that Android includes code which violates patents gained through the acquisition of Sun Microsystems.
Almost immediately after getting my hands on a Galaxy Tab 10.1, it was updated by Samsung to include the infamous TouchWiz UX. This brought about some significant aesthetic and UI changes, including a quick-access tray, which brings up a list of handy apps at the touch of a button. The only problem is that this bar isn't customizable. For those who want more options, or those not fortunate enough to have the TouchWiz experience, developer SnowBEE has released Wizz Bar.
It looks like Amazon's Gold Box and Woot! have paired up to offer a discount on the Motorola Xoom today. If you hurry, you can grab a factory refurbished, 32GB Xoom for just $339.99 (with free shipping), which is about $15 less than the last deal we saw from Woot! on the original Honeycomb tablet.
Since last night's announcement, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the Galaxy Nexus. One of the most mysterious features of Samsung's latest Nexus device is its onboard barometer. Many have been questioning why Samsung would include a barometer in the Nexus' sleek chassis, citing possibilities from more accurate weather prediction to simple altitude detection (which is partially true).
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is, if nothing else, a unique breed of tablet, conveniently offering the functionality of a netbook at your whim, with the addition of a handy keyboard dock. It is, no doubt, a capable piece of hardware, but (in my opinion) it seems a bit awkward and bulky. Of course, upon its release, speculation about its successor began almost immediately. Several months later, ASUS has released a teaser video that gives us a few hints about the next Transformer.
It looks like the HP Touchpad isn't the only tablet to have a bounty placed on its head - Kindle Fire Forum is now offering a substantial reward to the first person who's able to provide a reliable, reversible root method, or either a Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich port for Amazon's Android tablet.
It seems that these days, Samsung must constantly be on alert for new entries in the ever-growing list of patent disputes with Apple. Sensing this, Samsung's Mobile President, Shin Jong-kyun (who we heard from at last night's presentation) took a moment to stress the fact that the Galaxy Nexus was designed with patents in mind - specifically, it was designed to avoid trouble with Apple. While it is a rectangular device with a touch screen, not much else seems to put it in danger.
Everyone has been making a big deal about NFC lately - which phones have it, where it can be used, etc. Until last night's announcement, many (including myself) didn't see much on the horizon except a fun way to pay for things using your phone. That perception has changed, however, thanks to Android Beam.