Ryan Whitwam - 11/41 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Ryan is a freelance tech writer, skeptic, lover of all things electronic, and Android fan. In his spare time he reads golden-age sci-fi and sleeps, but rarely at the same time. His wife tolerates him as few would.

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May

Word Lens Updated To Version 2.1 With Portuguese Translations And Built-In Screenshots

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Word Lens is the kind of app that might not get daily use, but when you do fire it up, it can save your bacon with fast offline translations. This is not just any translation app, though. Word Lens uses your device's camera to overlay the text translation using optical character recognition. Well, this app just got a nice little update to version 2.1 with some new features.

Word Lens now supports Portuguese ⇄ English translations, but it's not included with the app. Word Lens has a slightly confusing payment system. The $4.99 paid version comes with one language pack of your choice.

May

Verizon's Galaxy S4 Will Be The First Device To Operate On The Carrier's AWS LTE Bands

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon managed to gobble up national licenses to a wide swath of the 700MHz Block C spectrum a few years back, and it is this slice of electromagnetism the carrier used to deploy its 4G LTE network. That's not Verizon's only plan of attack, though. It has also been putting together a second spectrum range running on AWS. Well, this space is almost ready, and the Galaxy S4 is going to be the first device to access it.

The new AWS bands are not going to be a separate network, walled off from 700MHz. Rather, this is a way for Verizon to augment its coverage and speeds in areas of high usage.

May

Popular Music App doubleTwist Going Holo In Next Update – Possibly Live May 28th [Update: Version 2.1 Is Out]

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Last Updated: May 29th, 2013

It looks like the folks at doubleTwist are hard at work on a new version of their music playback/syncing app for Android, but we're not supposed to know that yet. Someone seems to have jumped the gun a little bit and posted the news on the doubleTwist blog. The post was locked down almost immediately, but not before we spotted it. The news? As the post says, the future is Holo(graphic).

Update: doubleTwist has been bumped to version 2.1 and the blog post is unlocked.

May

Google Enables Biking Navigation In Google Maps For Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News

Bicycling enthusiasts in Europe (of which there are many) are getting a present from Google today with the addition of biking directions in Google Maps for six new countries. Cyclists in Germany, France, Poland, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein can now pull down routes that take into account the available biking trails, paths, and lanes. This applies to mobile and desktop apps.

When biking directions are selected in Google Maps, it chooses routes that avoid busy streets, and sends riders down dedicated bike paths where available. Google worked with other organizations in a few countries to catalog all the bike paths, but several hundred kilometers of trails were added by users.

May

Lambda Labs Releasing Facial Recognition API For Google Glass This Week (Whether You're Ready For It Or Not)

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Glass, Google, News

Lambda Labs, a small start-up out of San Francisco, is set to drag us kicking and screaming into the dystopian sci-fi future we all knew was coming. Okay, that might be overstating the point, but the company has announced its intention to release a facial recognition API for Google Glass this week. Should this pan out, you'll always have to wonder if that fellow wearing Google Glass remembered your name, kid's age, and occupation because he has a good memory, or because the cloud told him.

The Lambda Labs facial recognition API has been in operation since last year, and is currently used by about 1,000 developers.

May

[New App] Camera 2 From The Makers Of Paper Camera Has Tons Of Effects, Live Multi-Preview, And A Killer UI

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

There are many, many camera apps out there with filters and effects to make your snapshots look like they were taken with a 30 year-old Polaroid. Fewer are the camera apps with cool, well-thought-out filters that make for fun images. Paper Camera definitely fell into the latter category, and the follow-up Camera 2 looks even cooler.

May

[Deal Alert] LOL Shirts Offering $5 Off And Free Shipping On A Ton Of Shirts (Including Some Android Tees) With Coupon Code

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Deals, News

Is your top half clothed? Alternatively, is your top half sufficiently showing your love for Android? If the answer to either is 'no,' you might want to head over to LOL Shirts today to pick up some new threads at a steep discount. LOL Shirts has a coupon for $5 off each shirt with free shipping, which works out to $7.99 per tee. There are a couple neat Android options, which should pique your interest.

May

[Hands-On] Initial Impressions Of The Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Sony, Xperia Tablet Z

Sony's first attempt at making Android slates was less than a rousing success. Not one to be discouraged, Sony is back with a new Android-powered tablet called the Xperia Tablet Z. This is the big brother of the Xperia Z flagship smartphone. I've spent a little time with the Tablet Z and I have some thoughts in advance of the full review.

Hardware: Swoon

The device is surprisingly thin and light. Yes, I know what the spec sheet says, but it's different when you get it in your hands. Just knowing that it's 495g and has a 10.1-inch screen doesn't mean much until you pick it up.

May

[New Game] Combo Crew Review: An Old-Fashioned Brawler With New-Fangled Controls

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

The arcade-style brawler has a long and storied history. From the X-Men to Double Dragon, nothing has quite the same feel as a good button-mashing beat-em-up. The main problem with these titles on mobile devices is the lack of buttons to mash. Sure, there on on-screen thumbsticks and attack buttons, but it's just not the same. Combo Crew comes to Android in hopes of getting you (and your friends) hooked on its fluid gesture controls and slick presentation. Let's take a look at this just-released fighter.

Controls

Each stage in Combo Crew takes place in a single room with wave after wave of bad guys dropping in from above.

May

[How-To] Root The Verizon Galaxy S4 With No Device Wipe Necessary

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Galaxy S4, News, Verizon Wireless

Give the community enough time and almost any device can be cracked open, no matter how determined a carrier or OEM is to keep it locked down. The Verizon Galaxy S4 has proven a tough nut to crack, but a new root method is much less convoluted than previous ones. Just flash a kernel, run some tools, flash again, and you're done! Well, it's a little more involved than that, but not much. Here's how you do it.