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It's not exactly news that mobile devices are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to consume data. From Twitter feeds to RSS, it's becoming increasingly common to see people reading on their devices, whether it be a tablet, e-reader or phone.
Cerulean Studios, creator of the popular cross-platform IM client Trillian, recently announced that all versions of the aforementioned product would transition to a free-with-ads model, as opposed to a paid download. Even though this change took place about a week ago, it looks like the Market listing has finally been updated to reflect accordingly.
When Glu Mobile released Contract Killer this week on the Market, I remembered scenes from my youth when I lusted over Silent Scope, a sniper game that had a rather robust arcade cabinet. Besides being able to play the game with a full-sized sniper rifle, I was amazed by the game mechanics. Because you're firing from such a long distance away, how could you expect to be in any danger?
Tower defense (TD) games seem to be plentiful on mobile platforms: their control scheme fits well with a touch surface, they don't require much user input from the player, and don't tend to be graphically intensive. If you're an Android user, you've probably at least tried a TD game before; GRave Defense HD looks to be the one that conquers them all.
A new update for Adobe Flash is now available in the Android Marketplace, bringing the version up to 10.3.
One thing I remember about flipping through Nintendo Power magazine in my childhood is the Shadowrun SNES game. Based off a popular pen-and-paper RPG, Shadowrun is set in a dystopian future where humans can splice themselves with technology to gain new powers. The player wades through a maze of lies, deceit and all-around scummy people to meet their goals, whatever that may be.
I have a couple requirements for any application that wants to help me with organization: it has to have a functional desktop client to sync to. This is nothing against Android's system, but I find that if I have to do any extended typing on it, my enthusiasm for the app fails (coincidentally, along with my time management skills). This is what's kept me from using Astrid with the enthusiasm everyone seems to be talking about; all my time isn't spent on my phone, so why should I leave my tasks there?
I've never been a big proponent of using folders on my home screen; I'm the kind of guy that can fit all the apps he uses frequently on a 5x5 grid. With the possible exception for a "Games" folder, I find them pretty useless. I mean, the app drawer itself is one big folder, and if there's anything I really need to access, it goes on my front page.
Game ports fall into this weird category where developers have both an easy and difficult job in front of them. On one hand, the game can easily market itself on the nostalgia or hype of the product. On the other, however, they must successfully capture the feel of the original, which can be difficult.
With all the I/O updates today, something managed to fly under our radar just long enough that we only noticed it when checking out the new Music beta. Google's Android Market now suggests applications based on what other users have installed.
Well, we all saw it coming. After giving away phones the past two years (HTC Magic G2 in 2009, HTC Nexus One/Motorola Droid and HTC EVO 4G in 2010), Google I/O attendees will be leaving with shiny new Limited-Edition Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Here's our little (big) guy:
Conferences like Google I/O give companies a chance to update curious parties will all their major goings-on, but also allows them to flaunt their stats a little bit. Android's success is noted by just about everyone these days, and Google's decided to keep on proving it by providing its latest activation and app figures.
Google has announced during its keynote presentation Tuesday morning that it will be bringing movie rentals to the Android Marketplace. Starting at $1.99, these titles will be featured just like apps.
At Google's I/O Keynote Tuesday, it was announced that Android may be worming its way into your house in the near future - not just through your phone, tablet or TV, but through other appliances, as well. Android@Home is a system meant to be used as a conduit between your devices and appliances win your home, like the lighting or music systems.
The Internet is buzzing about Google I/O, with many speculating on what major reveals the public can expect. Sources close to the Wall Street Journal, for instance, are insisting that Google's long awaited music service will be announced tomorrow. The service will act similarly to Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud service, which allows users to upload their own music files and stream them to supported devices.
Like a lot of users, I'm guilty of mashing the "install" button when I'm in the Marketplace and ignoring those lovely warnings that tell me what permissions apps want to use. This isn't really the best practice to keep, especially in the wake of all this location-tracking madness that's been plaguing both Android and iOS.