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Jun

[Review] Sonos Controller For Android And Sonos S5 Wireless Speaker System: So-So Performance In A Svelte Package

Posted by Brian O'Toole in App Reviews, Applications, Devices By Manufacturer, Other Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Introduction

Sonos is a company well-known in the tech industry for their line of wireless speaker systems, designed to let you sling music around your house without the hassle of complex setup processes or routing wires through ceilings and walls. To mark the launch of their Sonos Controller for Android application, Sonos generously loaned me a full multi-room system consisting of two Sonos S5 speaker units and a wireless ZoneBridge router. Given the buzz surrounding Sonos's products, it seemed best to review the system as a whole, viewing the application and hardware as a complete set. Read on to see how it all stacked up.

Jun

[Download] Rooted Official EVO 4G Gingerbread Update, Fresh Out Of The Oven

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Tips & Tutorials

Update: Link to the de-odexed version added. Happy flashing!

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting
Top Android Apps Every Rooted User Should Know About: Part 1 (Apps 1-8),Part 2 (Apps 9-16), Part 3 (Apps 17-25)
Custom ROMs Explained And Why You Want Them
How To Fully Back Up And Restore Your Android Phone Using Nandroid Backup
How To Flash A Custom ROM To Your Android Phone With ROM Manager + Full Backup & Restore
So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking?

Jun

[Now With Direct Download Link, Known Bugs] EVO 4G Gingerbread Update Now Available Via Manual OTA Check

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News

Looking for a rooted version of this update? Have no fear - head over to our other post.

Update 2: Here's a direct download link from our own (fast) mirror for the EVO 4G Official Gingerbread OTA.

HTC EVO 4G Official Gingerbread OTA: Download here

To flash it, follow these instructions:

Download the OTA
Rename the file "update.zip" (the actual file suffix needs to be .zip, make sure .zip isn't just in the name [eg, not update.zip.zip])
Place the file on the root of your SD card (the main directory you see when you mount your EVO as a disk drive)
Reboot into recovery (power off, then hold volume down when you hit then power button to power back on)
Select recovery from the menu with the power button, then, when the sign with the exclamation point appears, press Power+Volume Up at the same time, and wait (up to 30 seconds).

Jun

[Updated] Happening Now: It's Not Just You - Android Market Throwing Server Errors En Masse

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

We don't really know what's going on with the web and possibly on-device Market right now, but we do know that it's fallen a bit sick, throwing Server Error pages left and right. At first, I thought the apps I was looking at were getting deleted, but then I noticed that the familiar-looking screen actually mentions a server error. After trying 10 more random apps, I got a total of 7 consistent errors and 4 successes. According to our quick polls on Twitter and Facebook, you guys are experiencing the same thing, so it's not just tied to my Market account.

Jun

34 Best New Android Apps From The Last 2 Weeks (5/20/11 - 6/2/11)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.

This is part 2 of this week's roundup, featuring applications. For part 1 with games and live wallpapers, see 25 Best New Android Games And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (5/19/11 – 6/1/11)

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:

Apps

LBE Privacy Guard

Android Police coverage: [New App] LBE Privacy Guard Is Like Windows’ UAC For Rooted Android Devices

This app looks like a more sophisticated implementation of the fine-rained permission control that was added to CyanogenMod last month and both praised and criticized by many.

Jun

[New App] VideoSurf: It's Like IntoNow For The iPhone, Only... Worse

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

When you hear a song and don't know what it is, but want to find out, what do you do? Fire up Shazam or SoundHound, of course. But what do you do when you see a video that you're lookin' to identify? Well, there hasn't really been a solution on Android to handle this sort of debacle - until now, that is.

Calling itself the "ultimate video discovery" app, VideoSurf is a direct answer to the iPhone's IntoNow - it can identify videos through audio and video recognition, suggest other videos, and locate other videos using keywords. According the VideoSurf website, there is "no need to open a new application", as it can "play practically any video on the web inside [the] app!" It also offers Facebook and Twitter integration, so you can easily share, Like, or Tweet any video directly from within the VideoSurf app.

Jun

Thrutu App Gets A Massive Update, Adds Tons Of Features To Your Phone Calls

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Out of all the things that we use smartphones for these days, calls come in pretty close to last. We're too busy texting, taking pictures, surfing the web, getting directions... you get the idea. What if we could incorporate all of these things into our phone calls though? That's exactly what Thrutu aims to do, and the newest update to the app makes most of that possible. Here's a video to get a better idea:

Every feature isn't highlighted in the video, though - it can actually do even more than that. Here's a breakdown of each option, directly from the Market listing:

Location: callers can see each other’s position on a map, updating live as they move.

Jun

[Review] Apparatus Wows Us With Little Big Planet-Like Gameplay And Creativity

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Apparatus will remind players of Playstation game Little Big Planet. The objective: get the silver ball into the blue bucket. You're given a number of pieces to play around with, like boards to fasten to each other or weights to create catapults. Pieces can be placed on one of three layers, allowing fasteners to work their magic.

Fastening pieces comes in one of two varieties: nails are "hard" connectors, giving a rigid connection. Screws, however, allow pieces to rotate independently of what they're connected to. Combining screws, circular plates and the game's engine capabilities, you can make pistons, engines and whatever else your mind comes up with.

Jun

[Review] Nano Panda Shrinks Down the Science-Based Physics Fun

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Let's say you've got a problem of a scientific nature: you've got a group of rogue atoms wreaking havoc in your petri dish, and you need to get rid of them. They've managed to convert certain structures into deadly traps, and are content to just hang around like a college grad who just won't move out. Who do you send in to fix this problem?

If you answered "Pandas", I'd like you to get your head checked. But first, check out this game.

Nano Panda comes at us from developer Unit9 Apps, who've put together a fun little puzzling game that's managed to capture a certain...

Jun

HTC Launches HTCDev.com, Announces OpenSense SDK With Scribe Tablet Pen And Stereoscopic 3D APIs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, HTC, News

In another step toward becoming one of the most dev-friendly Android manufacturers, HTC today launched HTCdev.com, a website "dedicated to providing you with the tools, advice, and community you need to pursue the possibilities."

The vast majority of the site's content has to do with the OpenSense SDK, which should be launching... sometime in the future (though you can sign up for emails about it now). HTC doesn't go into details about what it does, stating only that it will allow developers to write applications better integrated into Sense UI. Specifically, HTC notes that devs will be able to access a "Tablet pen API" for the Flyer/View 4G as well as a "Stereoscopic 3D display API" for the EVO 3D.