Android - 11/167 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

[CES 2013] Bring On The Influx Of Android-Powered Photography Machines: Polaroid Announces The iM1836 Mirrorless Camera With Jelly Bean [Updated]

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Polaroid

Last Updated: January 8th, 2013

Not to be outdone by Nikon and Samsung, Polaroid has taken the wraps off of its previously leaked new Android-powered camera, the iM1836. Past its super-clever and easy-to-remember (not really) name, this offering weds an 18.1MP mirrorless body, 3.5" display, and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Android 4.1 for an out-of-the-box hoot of a good time.

While there's no tentative release date for the iM1836 right now, the camera is already tagged with a price of $399, which includes a 10-30mm lens. That's a pretty reasonable price for a mirrorless compact, especially considering its versatility over the competing offerings from Samsung and Nikon.

Jan

[CES 2013] LEGO Announces New Android-Compatible Mindstorms EV3 Kit For Programmable Robot-Building Nerdgasms

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

There aren't many things in this world that can be as purely amazing as LEGO. The only people who aren't fans of the world's best creativity toy are people who (mistakenly!) think the company has sold out and encourages kids to follow pre-made instructions instead of building something new. To that I say: Mindstorms EV3. With Android compatibility out of the box. Your argument is invalid.

The main part of the new kit, the Intelligent Brick (seen above as a glowing torso with a QR code on its chest) will have more processing power, more memory, and more on-brick programming capabilities.

Jan

[CES 2013] NVIDIA GRID Will Power The Next OnLive (With Android Integration), If NVIDIA Has Anything To Say About It

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, NVIDIA, Tablets

Okay, so sure, OnLive still exists, but given its financial woes and general instability, it's unlikely that the company will be investing in any new hardware or infrastructure. This is a shame, because NVIDIA just dropped some sweet-looking server racks on us at CES. While it bears more than a little resemblance to the GeForce GRID program, the NVIDIA GRID features the ability to support 24 concurrent users on a single node.

In addition to providing businesses with huge, server-side processing power, the company is also touting a fully-integrated video game streaming system that includes an Android client.

Jan

[CES 2013] Dacor Cooks Up Android 4.0.3-Powered Wall Oven With 7" Display, Google Play, $7499 Price Tag

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

Back in 2011, Eric Schmidt (among others) predicted that Android would soon power home devices, including refrigerators and other appliances. Samsung fulfilled the refrigerator vision with the RF4289. We've questioned the wisdom of Android-powered appliances in the past, but today's pre-CES announcement from Dacor is definitely worth talking about. The California-based company, known for manufacturing quality home appliances, has just announced an Android-powered in-wall oven.

That's right – a (thirty inch) smart oven is on the way, and it's powered by a seven-inch device (called the Discovery IQ controller) with Android … ahem … baked in. And guess what – it runs the Play Store.

Jan

Gingerbread Finally On Less Than Half Of All Android Handsets At 47.4%, ICS Shoots Up To 29.1%, JB On 10%

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

The long, hard road towards the future of Android slogs on. While Gingerbread still remains the largest major version of the platform, its dominance is decreasing steadily. As of January 3rd, Gingerbread only represented 47.4% (down from 50.6% in December)of all Android devices. The second runner-up was Ice Cream Sandwich with 29.1% (up from 27.5% in December). The two versions of Jelly Bean totaled up to 10.2%, though if you subdivide by the Summer and Winter releases, they get much farther apart: 4.1 accounts for 9%, while 4.2 is on a measly 1.2% of devices.

The decrease in Gingerbread and increase in Ice Cream Sandwich is good enough news, especially since 4.0 saw the advent of the much more modern UI that has remained fairly consistent throughout subsequent platform releases.

Jan

ARCHOS Announces TV Connect: An Android-Powered Device That Turns Your TV Into A Giant Tablet

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in ARCHOS, News

You're crazy for this one, ARCHOS! Today, the company most known for releasing the best cheap Android tablets before the Nexus 7 swooped in and drove a wedge between the concepts of "cheap" and "inexpensive" announced the TV Connect. This thing is designed to plug into your set and essentially turn it into a giant Android tablet. With a remote control. No, it's not Google TV. What.

The TV Connect will come with a 1.5GHz "Multi Core" processor of indeterminate origin, 1GB RAM, 8GB of storage, and Android 4.1. It also comes with a built-in HD camera for video chat purposes (think Logitech/Skype's living room solutions).

Dec

Ouya Dev Kit Gets The Full Walkthrough Treatment, Shows Off Touchpad, Battery Slots, Interface And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

It was only a matter of time after the dev units shipped out that we could expect to see a thorough walkthrough on the part of a new owner, and here it is. Some of what we're seeing in this trio of videos, we've already seen in the official Ouya unboxing. However, a few new details have been highlighted. For starters, in the top center of the controllers, there are touchpads that can be used for cursor control. Also, as we learned before, they will require two AA batteries. Well, that's a bummer.

Of course, what we all really want to see is the interface.

Dec

33 Best (And 2 WTF) New Android Apps And Live Wallpapers From The Last 2 Weeks (12/15/12 - 12/27/12)

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

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 is the app roundup. The game roundup from this week can be found here.

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

Photo Wall FX - Live Wallpaper

Today's app roundup is sponsored by the Photo Wall FX live wallpaper by Handy Apps.

Dec

Don Bluth Insists On Making Your Life Weirder By Releasing The Laserdisc Classic 'Space Ace' On Android

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

Don Bluth... What happened? You had such a good run. You made film history by actually giving Disney a run for it's money with Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. They were classics! But then Rock-A-Doodle happened. Then Thumbelina. Then...lord forgive me for speaking it's name...A Troll in Central Park. The decline was quick and painful. Before the movies started getting weird, though, Dragon's Lair came out and revolutionized the laser disc gaming industry (no seriously). While that title actually saw some initial success due to the unique tech (and notably high price point at $0.50 per play), the follow-up game, Space Ace, did not do nearly as well.

Dec

52 Best New Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (12/13/12 - 12/24/12)

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

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 Game

Ant Raid

Today's roundup is sponsored by Ant Raid by Herocraft. This brand-spankin' new game has you controlling a literal army of ants as they defend their colony from evil snails, bees, worms, and other nefarious backyard baddies.