beta - 7/15 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Viggle For Android Gets Beta App – Let Your Inner Couch Potato Free, Earn Tangible Rewards For Checking Into Your Favorite TV Shows

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Viggle, a TV check-in app that's already seen popularity on iOS, has just seen its first beta release for Android. Viggle, for those who don't know, allows users to check in to their favorite TV shows. The app accomplishes this by "listening" to audio and comparing the sounds it hears to a database, matching them with a certain television show.

What makes Viggle more interesting than many check-in apps is that users can earn tangible rewards. By checking in to TV shows, users earn points (specially featured shows offer more points), and those points can be redeemed for everything from sweepstakes entries to gift cards and electronic gizmos.

May

New SwiftKey 3 Beta Now Available, Offers A Handful Of Highly-Requested Fixes

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

In the midst of all the Samsung Galaxy S III hullabaloo, SwiftKey decided to release the latest best of its mind-reading keyboard. This new beta brings some of the most highly-requested features since the last beta release:

Improved the UI: there is now a dedicated comma key, and the <123> key is now in the bottom-left corner. And of course you still have the larger spacebar.
Refined the Smart Punctuation pop-up.
Reintroduced the Long-press duration setting.
Improved Smart Space functionality.
Further reduced lag on some devices.
Fixed a number of bugs, including the missing decimal point in the numpad and the "What's New" dialog popping up all the time.

Apr

[New App] Solid Explorer Beta Is One Of The Most Solid Beta Explorers That We've Ever Explored

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you don't have at least one file explorer installed on your device, then I'm not sure how you actually use it (if you an even call it "using"). However, there are a veritable plethora of file managers in the Store, so choosing one as your primary can be a real task.

If you're on the side of the fence that most of us here at AP are, and have tried nearly every reasonable-looking file manager in the Play Store, then you've probably gotten to the point where you don't even check out new offerings any more, right? That's exactly how I was about an hour ago, before we found Solid Explorer Beta.

Apr

Republic Wireless Begins Sending Out Invites To Its Beta Program, Announces Plans For Future Device Availability

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Republic Wireless

No, Republic Wireless hasn't merged with Google as per the Internet's dreams, but it has begun issuing invites to its upcoming beta service.

Indeed, those who signed up for the service a few months back should soon be assigned a "wave" of the beta. Following this assignment, the lucky few will be secured a spot on Republic's waiting list, and the waves will start opening up this summer.

But the real news here is the smartphone pricing that's been sent out to beta customers. Unfortunately, Republic Wireless didn't provide device names or any details of that sort; all that's been disclosed are three price points and some specs.

Apr

Experimental Opera Mobile Build Brings Desktop Extensions To Android

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

One of the most powerful tools in all of the modern desktop browsers is the ability to add extensions. Extensions allow the browser to do things that it can't do on its own - everything from simple tasks to advanced options. When it comes to desktop extensions, the limits are generally left up to the mind of the creator.

Up to this point, extensions haven't been all that widely adopted in the mobile world. In the cases of browsers that actually have extension support, the experience lacks much to be desired and it just doesn't compare to what desktop browsers have to offer.

Mar

Sony Releases Beta ICS ROM For Unlockable Xperia Play Models

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

In a time when many users are wondering if an Android 4.0 update will ever come to their devices, it was a pleasant surprise that Sony was open enough to release a beta version of ICS for some of their devices - the Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray. But they didn't stop there, as they have, "upon request," released a beta ICS ROM for the Xperia Play (or as you may know it, the PlayStation Phone).

As with the previous releases, this is certainly far from a final release. A number of features are missing, most notably Google Apps and Wi-Fi, though Sony says that most "basic functionality" is working.

Mar

Chrome For Android Beta Updated To 0.16.4301.233, Works With Custom ROMs Once Again

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

Google announced today on its Chrome Releases blog that Chrome for Android Beta has been updated to version 0.16.4301.233 (that's Chrome 16.0.912.77 for anyone counting).

The update primarily brings bug fixes, specifically addressing "issues in the compatibility check which prevented Chrome from starting up on some versions of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich." In other words, whatever it is that broke compatibility with custom ROMs in Chrome's previous update seems to have been eliminated this time around.

While there's no official change log available for the update just yet, Google does list remaining known bugs:

112923 : No way to toggle between mobile/desktop UA

113140 : Youtube links do not prompt for which application to use

113132 : Chrome for Android beta doesn't support configured proxy in wi-fi settings

Other notable issues listed here

Google also urges users to report new issues by filing a bug report.

Feb

Popular Gallery App QuickPic Updated To V2.0 With Brand New, Faster, ICS-Inspired UI, Apps2SD, And More

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

My favorite gallery replacement app QuickPic, which is notorious for its speed and simplicity, just got updated with a brand new spiffy UI based on the new Android design guidelines that were published at the time of the Ice Cream Sandwich release.

The new UI in v2.0 is now much cleaner and more fluid, with action buttons at the top right and context buttons showing up dynamically on the bottom when they're needed. QuickPic did have to rebuild all the thumbnails, but once it's done so, it loads faster than it ever has.

v2.0 beta

New clean UI like Android 4.0(ICS), lots of UI optimizations

Replace list mode to explorer mode, support hierarchical folders

Bigger square thumbnails without border

Fix some minor bugs

App2SD for Android 2.2+

Check out the new 2.0 beta in the Market, and if you've never tried QuickPic before, I strongly encourage you give it a go.

Feb

Sony Releases Android 4.0 Beta ROM For Some Unlocked 2011 Xperia Smartphones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V (Haida), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

Back in December of '11, Sony [Ericsson] released an Android 4.0 alpha ROM for the Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray. The Sony dev teams has now released an update to this ROM, bringing into its beta stages.

Since the previous release, Sony has made a number of improvements to the ROM, including an updated UI, improved lockscreen, activated GSM modem and FM radios, and a quick dialer.

Unfortunately, Google Apps are not available for this ROM, nor are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, as they're both still waiting for approval before they can implemented into the product.

If you intend on flashing this ROM, however, you need to be aware that it's intended primarily for developer use, and there are still a lot of quirks.

Feb

[Download] Notion Ink Adam Gets A Shiny New Android 4.0 Beta ROM

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Notion Ink

The Notion Ink Adam has had a long sordid history. The 10" tablet that promised a full-color LCD display in the same housing as a transflective display that provides e-ink-like readability without a backlight looked great but failed to catch on in the market. The device still has its share of devoted followers, though. If you're among them, then we've got a tasty treat for you: an Ice Cream Sandwich beta.

^{Simulated image.}

The new build is being created by third-party devs, but Notion Ink is promoting it on their official blog. It's unclear how much Notion Ink is involved in the process, but it's nice to see Google's latest software come to the tablet that the blogs forgot.