Ryan Whitwam - 13/30 - 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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Jan

AT&T Nexus 7 In Play Store Now Comes With A $100 Bill Credit If You Sign A 2-Year Contract

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in ASUS, AT&T, Carriers, News, Nexus 7

If you've been eyeing the HSPA+ version of Google's Nexus 7, AT&T is now offering you a little incentive. If you buy a Nexus 7 with 3G and agree to a 2-year data plan contract, AT&T will give you a $100 bill credit. It's not the best deal in mobile, but if you're planning to stick with AT&T for a while it's free money. What? You're going to turn your nose up at free?

This promotion mirrors a deal AT&T started running on its officially supported tablets late last year. With that offer customers could get a $100 subsidy on the upfront cost of a tablet in exchange for signing a 2-year contract.

Jan

[Deal Alert] Monster ClarityHD Bluetooth Speaker Just $49.99 (50% Off) Today Only From Best Buy

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Deals, News

Are you just getting home from work and looking to unwind with some tunes? Maybe you want to rock out to the music on your phone – oh, but that crappy little speaker just won't cut it. The Monster ClarityHD, however, can pump out much more sound, and it's on sale from Best Buy. Yes, you might actually have a reason to buy something from Best Buy.

The Monster ClarityHD connects wirelessly to most Bluetooth 2.0 compatible devices. It packs a rechargable lithium-ion battery for around 5 hours of wireless playback. It also has microphone support so you can take calls hands-free while your device is synced with the Monster ClarityHD.

Jan

Dropbox App Updated To Version 2.3 With Better Photo Management And UI Tweaks

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

Dropbox is the clear king when it comes to consumer cloud storage solutions. The app has gone through a number of significant overhauls during its life on the Android platform, and it's a solid experience these days. However, there's always more work to be done, and today's update brings several welcome improvements to how photos are handled, as well as various fixes and UI tweaks.

The full change log for version 2.3 lists the following additions:

Easily share several photos at once
Organize your favorite photos into albums
Delete multiple photos at once
UI improvements and updates throughout
Lots of other little tweaks and bug fixes

Dropbox added photo sync last year, and it's a fairly nice service if you don't need a lot of configuration.

Jan

Verizon Motorola XOOM And HTC One XL Get CyanogenMod 10.1 Support

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in HTC, Motorola, News, One XL (Evita), XOOM

Of all the Android ROMs out there, few receive even a fraction of the love that CyanogenMod does. For users that like to flash ROMs and experiment with all Android has to offer, getting official Cyanogen support can be like Christmas morning. Today users of the HTC One XL and the old Verizon Motorola XOOM get to do a little happy dance as CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies have become available for the XOOM, while an experimental build is up for the One XL.

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

Jan

T-Mobile Confirms Unlimited Data Plans For Monthly4G Prepaid Service

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, News, T-Mobile

We reported a few days ago that T-Mobile was rumored to be implementing an unlimited data option for its prepaid phone service. Well, now the carrier is confirming it. Starting on Wednesday January 9th, customers will be able to sign up for unlimited 4G HSPA+ data, voice, and text on prepaid for just $70 per-month.

This plan replaces the $70 unlimited talk/text plan with 5GB of 4G data. T-Mobile's data plans can be a little confusing because the carrier likes to still call them "unlimited" at times. What T-Mobile means is that all its data plans are technically unlimited if you don't mind downloading at a snail's pace.

Jan

T-Mobile Launching Updated Samsung Galaxy S III With 4G LTE Support, Actual LTE Network May Be Coming This Month

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, Galaxy S III, News, Samsung, T-Mobile

T-Mobile is the smallest national US carrier, and it was also the last to announce a cogent strategy for the deployment of 4G LTE. Yes, after years of insisting to no end that HSPA+ is 4G, the magenta carrier is rolling out LTE. As part of that move, new phones are going to be needed. The first device designed for T-Mobile's LTE is a revamped version of the popular Samsung Galaxy S III.

T-Mobile has not yet said when the updated S III will arrive, but it will likely replace the HSPA+ GS3 in the carrier's lineup. Most of T-Mobile's phones have no support for LTE, thus the new version of Samsung's flagship.

Jan

[CES 2013] Qualcomm Announces Next Generation Snapdragon Mobile Processors With A New Naming Scheme

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in News

If you thought the Snapdragon S4 Pro in the Droid DNA was snappy, get ready to redefine snappy. Not to be outdone by NVIDIA's Tegra 4 announcement yesterday, Qualcomm has detailed its own 2013 ARM chips. The S4, S3, etc. naming scheme is no more – the new chips are the Snapdragon 800, Snapdragon 600, Snapdragon 400 and Snapdragon 200. The 600 and 800 are the new high-performance processors in Qualcomm's lineup, and that's where the company is focusing most of its attention.

The Snapdragon 600 will be running on four new Krait 300 cores (at clock speeds up to 1.9GHz), and should be able to deliver 40% more power than the S4 Pro while consuming less battery.

Jan

[New App] Blockbuster Launches New Disc Rental Android App To Complement 10 Streaming Apps

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

Blockbuster probably has bigger problems than scattershot Android app development, but it's a problem nonetheless. On the surface any effort to clean things up seems like a great idea, but the way Blockbuster has gone about it is... well, bizarre. The company, which was acquired by Dish when everyone stopped renting discs, has released a new Android app. Can you guess what it's for? Yep, renting discs. Brilliant!

Blockbuster's movie streaming apps appear to still be listed in the Play Store, but these are device specific. There is one app for HTC devices, one for LG devices, and so on.

Jan

[CES 2013] NETGEAR Announces NeoTV PRIME – A Google TV Set Top Box With Some Added Streaming Features

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Google TV, News

In case you thought Google TV was of such low importance that it wouldn't make an appearance at CES, NETGEAR is here to prove you wrong. The new NeoTV PRIME is a welcome update of the old NeoTV Pro and MAX boxes from last year. The PRIME essentially adds Google TV to handle the online streaming while NETGEAR makes your local content more useful.

NeoTV PRIME supports the playback of your personal (and I'm sure totally legal) video files via a USB thumbdrive or external hard drive. If you have a media server set up at home, you can even stream to the NeoTV PRIME over your network.

Jan

Ant Raid Review: Lead Your Tiny Minions To Victory

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

The comings and going of ants are rarely fodder for a good strategy game, but when you think about it, they're tailor made. Ants have lots of natural enemies, a hive-mind social structure for you to command, and ants don't take crap from anyone (ever step on an anthill?). In Ant Raid, you take command of a group of anthropomorphized ants under attack from all sides. Snails, wasps, and all manner of other small-stature troublemakers are out to destroy the colony, and you're the only one that can stop them.