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May

Killswitch: Automatically Put Your Device To Sleep When You Put It In A Case Or Turn It Upside Down

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, News

One neat feature of BlackBerrys is that when you put the phone in its case, the screen automatically shuts off. The effect is only part novelty; after all, by shutting the screen off sooner, you're saving battery (although in all honesty, it's doubtful you're saving that much battery). Developer Fahrbot Mobile has devised a solution for Android that "uses a combination of sensors to control the sleep state and screen lock of any device... at the moment, it uses the proximity sensor, light sensor and accelerometer."

Sleeplessninjas has provided a video overview of the app (disclaimer: it's 6 minutes long):

Hit up the widget below to check out the free version, or jump right into the paid.

May

Mobile Research Firm Predicts Android Market Will Surpass Apple App Store In Number Of Apps In August 2011

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Apps/Games, News

Analyst Egle Mikalajunaite of research2guidance has modeled the growth of the Android Market and Apple App Store, and based on his predictions, the former will overtake the latter in August of this year. While we're generally pretty weary of these sort of predictions, the short-term nature certainly makes this much more plausible.

The graph largely speaks for itself, but there's a bit more to be said in terms of specific numbers. First, according to their numbers, the Market has been adding more apps per month since October of 2010. Second, it's since continued to pick up the pace (notice that you can see it ramp up quite dramatically beginning in August of 2010).

May

[Review] Privacy Blocker Fools Android Apps By Spoofing Your Private Data

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Like a lot of users, I'm guilty of mashing the "install" button when I'm in the Marketplace and ignoring those lovely warnings that tell me what permissions apps want to use. This isn't really the best practice to keep, especially in the wake of all this location-tracking madness that's been plaguing both Android and iOS.

While I'm not exactly sheepish about what my location data says about me, not caring about the rights that you have as a user (and the rights that you're letting apps take advantage of) just shows a lack of responsibility. While I'm not saying what Google and Apple did was right, I think it's part of our duty as enlightened tech fans to make sure our best interests are being looked after.

May

Bookworms, Take Note - Goodreads Android App Now Available In The Android Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

If you're into reading, you've probably heard of Goodreads, a site that allows users to keep track of their reading collections, get social book recommendations, read reviews, collect quotes, and even form a book club. Us, Android folks, love to manage things on the go, and the new Goodreads app, announced on May 2nd, is here to satisfy all of your recommendation cravings and organizational OCDs.

The app lets you sign into your Goodreads account and manage your past, current, and future reading lists, search the book catalog, read friend and community reviews, and find book recommendations. There is really not much else to it, so if you want to take the Goodreads experience with you while on the go, head over to the Market and download the free app to your device.

May

The Official Google I/O 2011 App Now In The Market - Start Starring Those Sessions

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Google, News

Ever since my visit to Google I/O last year, I've been waiting for this year's event with great anticipation - after all, I/O still remains the most exciting conference for Android fans and developers. To help attendees navigate around it, this morning Google updated the official I/O app that has been sitting idle for almost a year.

If you're trying to manage all the sessions on your own, just stop - this is exactly what the I/O app will do for you. You can see the whole schedule, including all the necessary details, star the ones you want to attend, take notes (using Catch integration), and guide yourself around the floor.

May

[Quick Game Hands-On] Clever Contraptions

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Games, News

Last weekend, a developer (and redditor) posted on Andreddit to promote his new game, Clever Contraptions. He said he was "inspired by the classic game 'the incredible machine' [sic]" - a promise that triggered my nostalgia and prompted me to download it immediately. In the days since, I've managed to spend a bit of time with the game, and I have to admit I've come away pleased, despite a few minor niggles.

The official app description:

Clever Contraptions is an entertaining puzzle game with incredible, life-like physics simulation. The purpose is to perform such seemingly simple tasks as putting a ball in a basket by building intricate, creative chain reactions.

Apr

Shazam Temporarily Cuts The Crap, Lets You Tag Without Limit Until Next Year

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, Apps/Games

Shazam, the music tagging service that listens to a song and tells you what it is, has announced today that the free version of their app will support unlimited tagging until January 1st, 2012. While this is pretty cool if you're a Shazam user who doesn't want to pay $5 for Shazam Encore (or didn't grab it what it was Amazon's app of the day), it's still pretty laughable for people who have been using Soundhound the whole time. While I can appreciate what Shazam is doing here with the help eBay, who is sponsoring this unlimited tag-fest, I can't help but feel that Shazam should've done this on its own a long time ago.

Apr

[Hands-On] Google Docs Photo Upload OCR: It Kind Of Sucks At This Point

Posted by David Ruddock in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, Reviews, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

We were all very excited to hear about the Google Docs for Android announcement this morning, and even more so when we learned it came with a special surprise feature: the ability to upload photos of physical documents from your Android phone and have them transcribed by Google Docs into editable text.

So, the first thing I was curious about, naturally, is just how well this new feature works in the real world. As you may have guessed from the title, not very. Let me show you the photos I tasked Google Docs for Android with transcribing.

Document 1: Printed handout:

Document 1 results:

OF CONSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS ON DEFAMATÍON
PUBLIC OFFICIALS GENERAL PURPOSE PUBLIC FIGURES
LIMITED PUBLIC FIGURES WHERE MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN
LIMITED PUBLIC FIGURE WHERE NOT MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN
PRIVATE PERSONS WHERE MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN
PRIVATE PERSONS WHERE NOT MATTER OF PUBLIC CONCERN
ACTUAL MALICE.

Apr

Official Google Docs App For Android Is Out - It's About Time

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Last Updated: October 7th, 2012

If there is one single Google service that I've wanted on my phone since the day I got it, it's Google Docs. That wait is finally over, because Google has released an official Docs app for Android - and it's nothing short of awesome.

This app not only allows you to view and edit all of your Docs, but also brings a few other killer features. Firstly, it offers a widget that allows you to quickly create a new document, take a picture and upload it, or directly access your starred documents.

The most impressive feature, however, is the ability to snap a picture of a document and turn it into a fully editable Google doc.

Apr

[Story Time] Sprint + Google Voice Integration: I Did It, And Here's How It Went

Posted by Brad Ganley in Carriers, Editorials, News, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Back in March, when we first heard about Sprint getting the Nexus S, we also heard about their fancy new Google Voice integration plan. The idea was simple: Let Sprint users do one of two things:

Use their current Sprint phone number as a Google Voice number, enabling all of Voice's awesome features to be utilized without having to create a group on Facebook to give out your new number.
Allow current Google Voice users to use their Voice number for their Sprint line without having to port the number to Sprint, because, a while ago, they went through the trouble of creating a Facebook group and gave everyone they know their Google Voice number so now nobody has their Sprint number.