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May

Astrid To-Do App And Service Acquired By Yahoo! - Premium Accounts Are Out, May Be Shutting Down Soon

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

A lot of our readers have made the jump to Google Keep for their task/to-do manager of choice, but the older and more feature-filled Astrid still has a wide and appreciative community of users. Today the cross-platform service announced that it's been purchased by Google's ancient and somewhat diminished rival, Yahoo. While details on price and timeline are scarce, the service blog notes that they're no longer accepting premium subscriptions (which added data storage and saved voice notes) and will be issuing refunds to those who have paid for subscriptions and plugins.

Also of note: the blog post says that Astrid will "continue to work as is" over the next 90 days, implying some kind of change thereafter.

May

23 Best (And 3 WTF) New Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (4/19/13 - 5/1/13)

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News, Roundups

Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.

This edition focuses only on new games. The app roundup is coming up soon.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.

Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.

Featured App

Boulder Dash®-XL™

Today's roundup is brought to you by Boulder Dash XL from Herocraft. Boulder Dash wasn't considered the greatest game of the bygone 8-bit era, but it had its share of fans thanks to interesting "Dig-Dug meets Tetris" gameplay.

May

Google Updates Platform Distribution Numbers – Gingerbread Down To 38.5%, Jelly Bean Up To 28.4%

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

As usual Google has updated monthly platform distribution numbers for Android in its developer dashboard. The numbers, based on devices accessing the Play Store over the last 14 days (ending May 1st), tell developers which versions of Android are most prevalent, and which are on the decline.

This month, as last month, we're seeing a decline in Gingerbread and a rise in Jelly Bean. Gingerbread has dropped from 39.8% to 38.5%, a 1.3% drop for those keeping tally at home. Jelly Bean, meanwhile, has seen a slightly more substantial shift, rising 3.4% from 25% to 28.4%.

Elsewhere, the ebb and flow of version numbers is more or less expected.

May

[New App] Magellan Releases SmartGPS Turn-By-Turn App To Complement Standalone GPS Unit You Probably Won't Buy

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

GPS veteran Magellan announced the SmartGPS system back at CES, touting its social networking integration and "cloud" stuff. The device has just gone on sale in the US for $249, but along with that comes the SmartGPS app. This is a free download that lets your smartphone talk to the GPS unit. If you don't want to buy a $249 GPS unit that duplicates the functionality of your phone, the app includes additional features for a price.

The free version of SmartGPS lets you search for destinations and plan trips. It contains a full US and Canadian map with tons of points of interest.

May

Automagic Is Tasker With Easy-To-Use Flowcharts, But Is That Enough? [Hands-On]

Posted by Bertel King, Jr. in App Reviews, Applications, News

Automagic attempts to be Tasker, only easier to use. The problem is that Tasker is already pretty straightforward, and while Automagic makes certain things easier, it makes others more difficult. Still, a little competition never hurt anyone, and there are many ways Automagic challenges Tasker to step up its game.

What it Does

The premise behind Automagic is nothing new. It is an app that automates tasks based on a wide range of variables. For example, you can tell Automagic to turn off auto-brightness when your phone's battery dips below 50%. If you don't want to receive any distractions while you're at your sweetheart's house, you can automagically set your phone to airplane mode when you're within 200 meters of their address.

May

WeatherBug App Gets Complete UI Overhaul – No Longer Looks Like A Hot Mess

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

WeatherBug has been a big name in online weather forecasting for a number of years, and it was one of the first full-featured weather apps on Android. The problem, however, is that the app looked like it was designed by inebriated orangutans. Well, no more. The WeatherBug app has been updated with new features and a streamlined (not ugly) UI.

The new app has Holo-style tabs up top along with a drop-down for your locations. It also uses the left side slide-out menu system many apps are implementing these days. It still does all the usual weather app things like updating the current conditions, multi-day forecasts, and animated radar maps.

May

[Deal Alert] Do You Want A $20 Portable Speaker That Looks Like An Adorable Bugdroid? Of Course You Do

Posted by David Ruddock in Accessories, Deals

I may be an unabashed lover of quality audio, but the sheer "d'awww" factor of this bugdroid portable speaker is enough to contemplate reaching for my credit card right now. This isn't a new product, but it normally costs $30, and it's just $20 right now at Best Buy's website (free shipping).

It manages 8 watts of peak output, stows an 850mAh lithium ion battery that can be used for up to 6 hours of maximum volume playback, and has a retractable 3.5mm stereo cable (no Bluetooth, sorry). And surprisingly, the reviews for it on Amazon (where it costs $30) are outstanding - 4.5 stars with 182 reviews at the time of this writing.

May

Wednesday App / Game Sales: Game Of Life, NFS Most Wanted, Neuroshima Hex, And Expendable Rearmed

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Deals, Games

Another day, another set of app sales - today's items all fall squarely in the "games" category (for the moment), but they're a few relatively good one. Read on for the list. Head over to yesterday's post for even more awesome deals (including the Metal Slug ports, a must-buy in my opinion).

The Game Of Life, by EA - $0.99 (80% off) [international version here]
Need For Speed Most Wanted, by EA - $0.99 (80% off) [international version here]
Neuroshima Hex, by Big Daddys Creations - $0.99 (66% off)
Expendable Rearmed, by Retrobomb - $1.49 (50% off)

We'll update this post if we stumble across any more noteworthy discounts today.

May

Pantech Breakout Receiving Minor OTA Update (Version CA66F.BB), Removes Some Verizon Bloat

Posted by David Ruddock in Breakout, Device Updates, News, Verizon Wireless

Hey Pantech Breakout owners - your phone's about to be a little less Verizon-heavy, a la an otherwise small OTA update that should be headed out to your device in the next week or two. Software version CA66.F.BB removes VZW Apps, Verizon Video, Rhapsody, and Blockbuster from your device, mostly because they're all totally useless! There's an Android security patch bundled in here, too, and an update low memory notification string. OK.

As I said before, you can expect the update to roll out, most likely, in the next week or two.

Verizon Support

May

[Updated: Q&A] Dan Rosenberg Has Unlocked AT&T Galaxy S4's Bootloader, But We Won't Get To See How For A While - Here Is Why

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in AT&T, Development, Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

It was only yesterday that Cyanogen definitively confirmed AT&T's treacherous move to lock down the Galaxy S4's bootloader, but there is light at the end of that tunnel. No thanks to AT&T but to security researcher extraordinaire and a person I admire Dan Rosenberg, a.k.a. the magician, a.k.a. the root whisperer.

Dan, who is responsible for numerous root and unlock exploits, tweeted this photo of his Galaxy S4 earlier today:

There are no instructions or blog posts explaining the unlock at Dan's blog yet - these should be coming in the future. When, you might ask? This part is not decided just yet, for a good reason (put down your pitchforks).