16
Aug
2012-08-16_07h14_12

Xiaomi Phone 2 Announced, Packs Quad-Core S4 CPU, 4.3" 720p Display, MIUI, And A $310 Price Tag

Posted by in News, Xiaomi / MIUI

Chinese company Xiaomi (known for their popular ROM MIUI) has just announced a new phone, and this one looks to be every bit as impressive today as the original was when it was announced a year ago. The specs on the cleverly named Xiaomi Phone 2 stand out even in the world of quad-core superphones, and the company has managed to do so while maintaining a price point of just $310 USD.

  • 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 CPU (Adreno 320 GPU, 28nm)
  • 2GB RAM
  • 16GB memory
  • Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
  • 4.3" 720p IPS display
  • 2,000mAh battery
  • 8MP rear camera, 2MP front
  • 10.2mm thick
  • MIUI ROM
  • $310 USD
  • Launching in China in October

2012-08-16_07h03_00 2012-08-16_07h03_25 2012-08-16_07h03_51

The company claims some ultra-impressive benchmark results (above left), and we're inclined to believe them.

15
Aug
image

Google Is Gearing Up To Finally Introduce Play Store Gift Cards And A Wishlist [APK Teardown]

Posted by in Android OS, APK Teardown, Apps/Games, Google, News
Last Updated: October 17th, 2012

A new Google Play Store v3.8.15 apk started rolling out to Android devices today, but upon running through its UI, I was unable to uncover anything different from the versions before that. Yet the apk size gained a few pounds kilobytes, and not knowing what the 300KB of code and resources added was killing me. Not to worry, a few minutes later, I decoded both 3.7.15 and 3.8.15 and compared their contents.

Play Store Gift Cards

What I found inarguably points to Google gearing up to finally release redeemable Play Store gift cards - something we've been anxiously waiting for since the Android Market started supporting paid apps.

15
Aug
playstore

Download: Latest Google Play Store 3.8.15

Posted by in Apps/Games, News
Last Updated: January 6th, 2013

There is a more recent version of the Play Store available for download here: Download: Latest Google Play Store 4.1.6 - Sweet New Designs And OCD Fixes

And a few earlier ones:

A new Google Play Store update v3.8.15 has just started rolling out to Android devices. The new version updates 3.7.15 from the end of July, and so far outside of a minor cosmetic change, I wasn't able to pin down just what exactly is new.

14
Aug
200px-Ealogo.svg

EA Bringing Its 'Origin' Game Store To Android... Eventually

Posted by in Games, News

EA just announced at a GamesCon press conference that it will be bringing the popular Origin game store to Android (along with Facebook, Mac, and Smart TVs). For the unaware, Origin is basically EA's answer to Steam as a go-to place to purchase and download games.

1[5]

At this point there are no other details, but it's worth noting the Mac version has a tentative release timeframe of February 2013. Perhaps we'll see the Android version around that time, too (but I wouldn't count on it).

This announcement also puts another question on the table: will EA continue to sell its games through the Play Store, or offer all of its titles exclusively through Origin?

13
Aug
image

Googorola, Phase 1: Trim Product Lines And 20% Of Workforce, Focus On Making Just A Few High-End Products

Posted by in Google, Motorola, News

Just three short months ago, China approved Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, effectively finalizing the deal. Apparently, neither company is looking to waste any time, as Motorola's new Google-driven leadership has already revealed the basics of the big turnaround plan. The first step: lay off 20% of its employees (including about 1,330 in the US) and close 94 offices around the globe. Given that Moto's phone unit has only made a profit in 6 months of the last 4 years, that's not so surprising.

What is perhaps more interesting is that Googorola will cut the number of devices made to "just a few," including dropping low-end devices from the portfolio entirely.

12
Aug
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Mapsaurus Takes App Discovery To A New Level With An Interactive Map Of The Play Store

Posted by in Applications, News

Mapsaurus, released today by a developer team of the same name, is perhaps the new app to end all new apps. By pairing an interactive map of Google's Play Store with an intuitive UX, Mapsaurus takes app discovery to a new level – not just of ease, but also of convenience.

The app, which promises to help users "discover apps you never would have known to search for," can branch out an interactive web of apps and games based on apps you already have installed, curated subcategories, or general categories and function sets.

What's great about Mapsaurus is that it not only helps you find new apps and games, but that the selections it displays are curated to ensure that no "mediocre" or sub-par entries are suggested.

10
Aug
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[New App] US Census Bureau Releases 'America's Economy' App For Android – 'Take The Pulse Of The US Economy' On The Go

Posted by in Applications, News

In a maneuver that the New York Times describes as "an effort to give economists, policy makers, business owners and citizens greater access to real-time data on the health of the nation's economy," the US Census Bureau recently released its America's Economy app to Google's Play Store.

The app, which is available in separate downloads for tablets and phones, gives users a quick look at a wide range of economic indicators, from business inventories to construction spending, homeownership rate, monthly wholesale, and a heaping handful of others. As one reviewer laments, however, the app does not offer some important indicators like labor force participation rate.

10
Aug

Cyanogen Mod 9.0 Stable Released For 21 Devices And Counting

Posted by in News

CyanogenMod is a pretty big deal in the Android modding world, and there's a good reason for that: it's fast, lean, well-featured, and supports a ton of devices that manufacturers have abandoned. When Android 4.0 was released, the CM team made it clear that CM9 (based on ICS) would be a long time in the making, as they were going to focus on doing everything properly and cleaning up the code. And now, as promised yesterday, CM9 stable is rolling out en masse.

So far, the supported devices:

  • LG Nitro HD/Optimus LTE
  • Samsung Galaxy Tabs
  • Samsung Galaxy Note (Intl)
  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus (GSM/CDMA)
  • Sony Ericson Xperia Mini Pro
  • Samsung Galaxy S II (Intl/AT&T/GSM)
  • Sony Ericson Xperia Neo
  • Samsung Galaxy S
  • Samsung Epic 4G
  • LG Optimus Sol
  • Samsung Nexus S (+/- 4G)
  • Sony Ericson Xperia Arc
  • Sony Ericson Live With Walkman

Clearly the list so far is dominated by Samsung and Sony Ericson, but builds are still going up every 20 minutes or so - the build bot is just churnin' them out.

09
Aug
2012-08-09_20h11_53

[Updated: Here Are The Winners!] Giveaway: Win 1 Of 10 Licenses To Essentials Of Android Application Development LiveLessons

Posted by in Contests / Giveaways, Development
Last Updated: August 16th, 2012

I've written more than a few of these giveaways for products covering just about every aspect of Android development, and written by dozens of authors. But this one... well, this is special, because it's a series of LiveLessons from none other than former Android Police contributor Ian Clifton.

This contest is now over. Here are our winners, selected at random:
  • Vikky
  • Michael Pardon
  • Tania N
  • Alex (Dupree?)
  • Mario II Valenzuela
  • Jeff Miller
  • LookedPath
  • Keyz Karanza
  • SQ1
  • CHRIS S

Congratulations, guys - all of you will be contacted for your information in the near future!

Everyone else - keep participating and stay tuned to Android Police so that you don't miss our upcoming giveaway announcements.

09
Aug
ouya_thumb

OUYA Android Console Raises $8.6 Million On Kickstarter In Just Under A Month

Posted by in Games, News

For the past month or so, you could hardly go to any tech-related corner of the internet without running into something on OUYA (pronounced "OOO-yah"), an impressive little Android-powered console. With respectable specs (Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 1080p), virtually unlimited hackability, and a price of just $99, it's no surprise that it flew through its $1,000,000 Kickstarter goal in the first 24 hours alone.

ouya_2 ouya_1

Since then, the console has continued to pick up even more steam. Square Enix has pledged support and Final Fantasy III will be one of the launch titles. OnLive will also be baked right in, meaning that regardless of how much (or little) support third-party developers pledge, you can still play from a massive library of games.

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