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

Mar

[Updated] App Preview: Friday Is Your Very Own Personal Assistant

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Update: We have been notified by the developers of this app that the app does not upload any information. The information is kept on the phone and organised by the app. In the future there are plans to implement a feature that would allow the information to be uploaded to a backup server. However, at present, information collected by Friday is not shared with anyone including the developer.

Each day a smartphone user receives information from a variety of different sources, including phone calls, text messages and emails. Keeping track of it all can be a major headache and more often than not we misplace crucial pieces of information because we are unable to recall when we had received them and/or what we were doing at the time.

Mar

VoIP Service Gizmo5 Going Offline April 3

Posted by Will Shanklin in Carriers, News

The VoIP company Gizmo5, which was purchased by Google in 2009, is going to be officially ending its service next month (April 3 to be exact). Many Android users who have a setup which utilizes Gizmo5's compatibility with Google Voice to make cheap or free internet calls will need to look elsewhere for cheap VoIP calling.

An email (submitted by Reddit user Bizurke) from Gizmo5 cites the Gmail calling service as a viable replacement after notifying users of the termination. Alternate VoIP services such as Sipgate, pbxes, and VoIPUser appear to be alive and kicking if GV users are looking for an alternative.

Mar

Droid X2? New Motorola Phone Shows At FCC

Posted by Will Shanklin in Droid X2, News, Verizon Wireless

Apparently the FCC has had a new Motorola phone submitted to it that sounds like it could possibly be the Droid X2. The phone carries the model ID IHDT56MJ1, which is all we have to work with since Motorola apparently requested that the device's name remain anonymous for 180 days (roughly six months for those who had trouble in math). If the conclusion of the period of anonymity coincides with the phone's launch, that would put it at August or September, which sounds reasonable to us for a Droid X2 launch.

The two pictures on the left below were not snooped from the FCC, but were from a leak last month picked up by TheMobiZone, supposedly showing the Droid X's sequel.

Mar

PSA: Please Don't Pay $80 For A Nook Color SD Card That Runs Honeycomb

Posted by Will Shanklin in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, NOOKcolor (Encore), Tips & Tutorials

I have a Nook Color and I have had loads of fun modding it. From basic rooting to Froyo, CM7, and Honeycomb, there are several options available now for those wanting to transform it from a tablet-esque eReader into a $250 entry level Android tablet. These operations range from simple to somewhat advanced, so I understand that some people are going to be a little intimidated by the prospect of hacking an expensive device. Naturally some might rather ask a more experienced tinkerer to do the job for them, and not risk messing something up. I get that. However, do I think paying upwards of $80 for an SD card that runs the port of the Honeycomb SDK preview is a wise decision?

Mar

Apple Haters Take Note: Conan O'Brien Just Eviscerated The iPad 2

Posted by Will Shanklin in Off-Topic

Okay, so maybe this doesn't directly relate to Android, but man, do we think some Android fans are going to like this one. With all respect to Apple, most of us are familiar with their promotional videos which can be a little, let's say, "predictable" at times. Beloved late night host Conan O'Brien created this mock iPad 2 video that... well, let's just let the clip speak for itself:

Source: Team Coco

Mar

The Door To More Tablet Apps Is Now Open: Fragments API Is Available For Nearly All Android Versions

Posted by Will Shanklin in Android OS, Applications, News

A new Application Programming Interface (API) called Fragments has been opened to all 1.6+ versions of Android. If you have no clue what that means, this should have the effect of making many more apps tablet-friendly on tablets and phone-friendly on phones.

At the core of Fragment's API is the multi-panel user interface that you see on certain tablet email apps, for example (labels in left panel, inbox in right panel). The ability to use this layout will now be integrated into a variety of applications without compromising the more basic look for phones. This will allow the same program to show the multi-panel look when run on a tablet, while phones stay with the single-panel UI.

Mar

Looks Like Google Is Starting To Listen - Hundreds Of Pirated Books/Apps Deleted From Android Market Minutes After Report

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Up until some recent events, it was quite hard to get through to Google regarding anything going on in the Android Market, be it stolen apps, copyrighted material, or getting any feedback regarding why your own app was removed. Sure, they still listened to DMCA requests and malware reports, but it seems that complaints by mostly large copyright owners saw any action, while reports by small-time developers getting ignored were getting abundant around the web.

The Android Market really doesn't need more bad publicity at this point, and Google knows that. Whether they will be beefing up their service personnel to handle complaints in an appropriate manner or not remains to be seen, but they are already quite a bit more sensitive to Market complaints, at least thrown by us into the atmosphere on Twitter.

Mar

[Video] New HTC Flyer Hands-on Shows Stylus' "Palm Rejection" In Action

Posted by Will Shanklin in Flyer, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Videos

HTC took some flak by some during Mobile World Conference for showcasing a 7", single core, Gingerbread running tablet while all the other big dogs were fighting over who has the best 10", dual-core, Honeycomb-running monster. With the tablet market looking more and more like it will soon be the iPad 2 vs. three nearly identical Android competitors, I find HTC's decision to go in an entirely different direction refreshing and was therefore curious about Carrypad's recent hands-on with the slate.

One aspect of the stylus technology that was spotlighted in the site's hands-on was "palm rejection," which is the ability of the touchscreen to not react to one's hand while scribbling away with a stylus.

Mar

Samsung Reconsidering Galaxy Tab 10.1 Details In Light Of iPad 2

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News

You'll find no Apple lovers around the Android Police offices, but even we have to admit that there's no excuse for Apple showing up the Android tablet scene's pricing. Unfortunately, that's exactly what's happened. With that in mind, it's perhaps not so surprising to hear that Samsung is re-evaluating their upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Aside from the likely price drop we'll see, they're also taking a critical eye to the physical characteristics of their tablet - specifically, they don't think it's thin enough to compete with the 8.8mm-thick iPad 2.

We've said it many, many times before: Apple products aren't for us, but that doesn't mean they don't manage to do some things right.

Mar

Only 0.3% Of The Global Population Owns A Tablet - But There Are Over 5 Billion Mobile Subscribers

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, News, Off-Topic

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky has run the numbers on tablets and lined them up for comparison against a bevy of other figures. Surprisingly, there are 5.113 billion mobile subscribers in the world (out of 6.898bn global population), but only 394 million smartphone and tablet users.

Abramsky's calculations show that there will be more than 400m tablet users by 2014. Equally as impressive is that he thinks 185m tablets will be sold in 2014 - or 47% of the number of smartphones and tablet owners today.

It's a bit surprising that the number of smartphone and tablet users is so low, but then again, that just speaks to the massive upside potential of the market.