Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

[Book Giveaway #4] Want To Be An Android Developer? We're Giving Away "Android Wireless Application Development" To 5 Lucky Readers

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Contests / Giveaways, Development

Last Updated: July 12th, 2011

To help aspiring Android developers get off the ground and develop our next dream app, and after having massive success with our O'Reilly partnership, Android Police has partnered with informIT to give away a multitude of Android books to our readers. Each week or so, we're going to be giving away a different informIT Android book, asking for nothing but a minute of your time in return.

Android Wireless Application Development, 2nd Edition

To start things off, we're giving away Android Wireless Application Development, 2nd Edition, which was written by Shane Conder and Lauren Darcey and published by Addison-Wesley Professional in December 2010.

Jul

[Updated: Now With Nexus S 4G] Skype For Android V2 Brings Support For Video Calling On Select Devices, New UI, And SMS

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Skype, one of the most popular audio/video calling applications on the desktop and now property of Microsoft, has been long criticized for lacking any video support on Android and being generally unstable and prone to crashing. In an effort to rectify the situation and raise that 3.6-star Market average, the company released a major version update minutes ago from 1.0.0.983 to 2.0.0.45.

The update finally brings video calling, albeit to only a small subset of devices:

Google Nexus S
HTC Desire S
Sony Ericsson Xperia neo
Sony Ericsson Xperia pro

Update 7/1/11: The Nexus S 4G and the European Nexus S were added to the list of supported devices after a small 2.0.0.47 update today.

Jul

[New App] Merriam-Webster Dictionary Hits The Android Market

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you've ever done a Market search for the term "dictionary," then you probably know that there is only one good choice. Fortunately, the folks behind the Merriam-Webster Dictionary have swooped in to save us from our word-defining woes by delivering their own app into the Android Market.

Touting itself as "America's most useful and respected dictionary," the Merriam-Webster Dictionary brings some nice features to your mobile device. Have you ever wondered what a word means, but had no clue how to spell it? With this app, you can do a quick voice search and have your answer easily.

Jul

Picasa Now Has Unlimited Storage For Google+ Users... Sort Of

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

Users participating in the private beta of Google+ have probably noticed the direct connection between G+ and Picasa for photo and video storage. Considering this, Google revamped the storage plans for Picasa, allowing G+ users to have unlimited storage space. Well, almost unlimited, that is. Up until recently, Picasa Web Albums had a 1GB per-user data cap, but now, G+ users can upload any photo smaller than 2048x2048 or video shorter than 15 minutes without it counting towards to the 1GB cap. Fortunately, if you upload your photos with G+, they are automatically resized, so they won't take up any space in Picasa, whereas photos uploaded directly to Picasa will be unaltered, regardless of size.

Jul

Help Build Your Own Nexus S By Bouncing Balls Of Google Apps In Nexus Contraptions

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g)

We just stumbled across a new game by Google to promote the Nexus S called Nexus Contraptions - on YouTube of all places. In this game, it's your job to navigate bouncing balls of Google Apps around various obstacles and into a funnel that ultimately leads into a Nexus S.

^{Hmmm, I wonder what you win if you get the fastest time?}

I'll admit, I only played around with it for a few minutes, so I didn't get very far - but I can already tell that the levels actually get quite difficult and require some planning to successfully complete! Take a look at this screenshot from one of the earlier levels of the game:

As you may be able to tell, you control the yellow robot arm (it's stationary) and you have to use the various provided "tools" to bounce the ball around the room and land it in the red funnel in the lower right corner.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Wyse PocketCloud Goes 40% Off For One Week, Now Only $8.99 In The Android Market

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Deals, News

If you've been considering picking up a copy of the ultra-popular VNC software Pocketcloud for your Android device, then now is probably the opportune time to jump on that, as you can score this incredible software for $9 until next week. That's nearly half-off the normal $15 price tag, and given everything that this software does, that is an excellent deal.

If you're not familiar with Pocketcloud, it's remote desktop software for your mobile device, and it includes full Honeycomb support. No longer will you have to lug your laptop around, as you can just grab your tablet or phone, fire up Pocketcloud, and do everything remotely.

Jul

30 Best New (And 1 WTF) Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (6/17/11 - 7/1/11)

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

Last Updated: July 16th, 2011

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 the first part of the roundup, which features games only. Apps and live wallpapers will come in a separate post 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

Today's roundup is sponsored by Gameview Studios and their game Tap Fish.

Jul

Cincinnati Bell Releases Froyo For The Motorola Milestone XT720, And It's Pre-Rooted

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

Here is something that you don't hear every day: a carrier released a rooted ROM as an upgrade. That's right - regional carrier Cincinnati Bell pushed an update to its Motorola Milestone XT720 users today, and the update instructions include rooting the device and using Titanium Backup to restore apps. I know, it's hard to believe, so here's a snippet from the official upgrade PDF:

Yeah, believe that. This is indeed an unprecedented move coming from a carrier - after all, most carriers (and manufacturers) fight the rooting community tooth and nail. Because of this, I say to you, Cincinnati Bell - kudos, and you have my respect.

Jul

FlightTrack Gets Update, Now Optimized For Honeycomb

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Popular travel companion app FlightTrack received an update today that brings a few bugs fixes, as well as support for Honeycomb tablets. The updated interface really takes advantage of the screen real estate provided by most tablets, offering a large map-based overview of all flights that are being tracked and two new widgets. The flight search has also been optimized, creating a more intuitive experience across the board.

The standard version of FlightTrack will set you back $4.99, and the Pro version an additional $4.99, but judging by the near-five-star rating in the Android Market, it seems to be well worth the money.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi 16GB $450 (10% Off) On eBay

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Samsung, Tablets, Tips & Tutorials

It seems retailers just can't get rid of the Tab 10.1 - and shrewd consumers are coming out ahead. You can pick up a Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi with 16GB of internal storage for just $450 on eBay (free shipping) sold by DataVision.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is probably the best Android tablet you can spend you hard-earned dollars on at the moment, and at this price (10% off retail), it's certainly not a bad buy. And we definitely liked it. This is the smaller 16GB model, presumably the most popular choice among consumers - so it's a bit odd to see retailers are having to put up discounts to offload them already.