01
May
nexusae0_root_thumb

Top Android Apps Every Rooted User Should Know About, Part 8: Apps 58-65

Posted by in Applications, Best Apps For Rooted Users Series, Roundups
Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

There are plenty of apps in Google Play these days, but a relatively small proportion are designed to unlock the power of a rooted device. Since it can be easy for these powerful apps to get obscured by the crush of retro, free-to-play, side-scrolling platformer games, we like to aggregate the best root-only apps on occasion. Whether you want to free up some screen real estate, change icons around, or manage your backups, the apps you need are right here.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

07
Feb
2013-02-07_11h48_27

Wikipad Announces 7" Gaming Tablet For $249, Company Discusses Cancelled 10" Version

Posted by in Accessories, News

One of these days, we're finally going to figure this whole buttons problem for Android devices. While touchscreens are great, the tactile feeling of physical controls will always have its appeal. Some solutions are better than others, but maybe the Wikipad can find the sweet spot. The tablet comes with an attached set of game controls that can be removed, leaving the player with a regular 7" Tegra 3 tablet. The entire unit costs $250.

wikipad wikipad2

Here are the specs for the tablet itself:

  • 7" 1280x800 IPS display (up to 5-point multitouch)
  • Tegra 3
  • 1GB RAM
  • 16GB storage (expandable w/ 32GB micro SD)
  • 2MP front-camera
  • 4,100 mAh battery
  • Android 4.1

The attached buttons actually make this look a lot like a Wii U tablet, but this one is running Android 4.1.

25
Jan
2013-01-25_16h13_43

HTC Is Bundling A Tiny Phone With Its Giant Phones (In China) Because That Will Make Things Easier

Posted by in HTC, News

Innovation is great. You know what it does? It solves problems. Not problems like 'What is beauty?' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. Innovation solves practical problems. For instance, "How am I going to stop this big mean 5" 1080p display from tearing my battery and hand a structurally superfluous new behind?" The answer, according to HTC? Use a mini phone.

Let's give HTC at least one paragraph of fairness: the secondary mini-phone doesn't sound like the worst idea once you hear what it can do. It can take Bluetooth calls, pair via NFC, display notifications, act as a remote when your phone is plugged into your TV, and even help find your phone if, for some reason, you lose the big one but still have the little one in your pocket.

07
Jan
mogaproclosed

[CES 2013] PowerA Announces A New, Bigger MOGA Pro Controller, For The Large-Handed Among You

Posted by in Accessories, News

Back when I reviewed the original MOGA controller, I had two problems with the controller. First off, the software was cumbersome (though I didn't cover using third-party drivers to use it with emulators or anything like that), and secondly, while it was a good size, it still felt just a little too small. Well, the MOGA Pro solves at least one of these problems by being bigger, better, and more button-y.

mogaproclosed moga-pro-group mogapro

As with the original version, the controller includes a flip-up arm that can grip phones as large as 3.2" wide (not to be confused with the diagonal screen size measurement).

09
May
2012-05-09 16h40_32

Sony And Google Show Off New GoogleTV Box With A Remote That Resembles A Space Shuttle Control Panel

Posted by in Google TV, News

You guys remember Google TV, right? It's the project that every CEO and their mothers stood on a stage with to declare war on Apple's AppleTV hobby? Yeah, those guys have been pretty quiet since about that platform for a while now. Sony, however, got up the nerve to announce a new Google TV box at a special event in Palo Alto. Where "announce" means "say some words near, without actually talking about."

gtvsony2 gtvsony3 gtvsony4

Details one the device are scarce. In photos we can see that it comes with standard fare in the port department. A couple of HDMI ports, optical audio out, ethernet, a couple USB slots, and even an (optional?) space for an IR blaster.

31
Dec
hardware_vs_software_buttons

[Weekend Poll] Do You Prefer Hardware Or Software Buttons?

Posted by in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Get An Android Device For The Holidays?

In tablets, having buttons on-screen rather than built into the body is standard operating procedure. On phones, however, there's really only one that eschews physical buttons for software, and that's the Galaxy Nexus. Still fuzzy on what I mean? Take a look at the comparison shot below, lifted from our review of the Galaxy Nexus:

hardware_vs_software_buttons

On the left, the Galaxy Nexus, with its three software buttons displayed on-screen. On the right, a Motorola Atrix, with its four hardware buttons at the bottom.

22
Nov
image

MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien Releases Patch For Galaxy Nexus Softkeys With Menu And/Or Search Key Reinstatement

Posted by in Development, Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

One of the most prominent new features on the Galaxy Nexus, and Ice Cream Sandwich, is that the soft-keys are displayed right on the screen. While the notion is a sound one, there will always be those who miss some of the legacy features left behind. In this case, those would be the Menu and Search keys, stalwarts of Android's interface paradigm since its release with the G1. What was once four buttons - Home, Menu, Back, Search* - has been whittled down to just Home and Back, along with the introduction of the new multitasking-purposed App Switcher button. This combination was seen previously in Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but is about to encounter widespread use on upcoming phones**.

18
Oct
image

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Redesigned Lock Screen And Virtual Button Bar

Posted by in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Adding to the heap of shiny new features brought to us in Ice Cream Sandwich, we've got a new lock screen, and of course the fabled virtual button bar.

The redesigned lock screen allows for simple unlocking, or unlocking to the camera app instantly (which, by the way, has zero shutter lag). That's not all it has to offer, though. Users can now swipe down the notification bar to get a peek at what's happening without unlocking their phone. Additionally, the time indicator in the upper right corner is now gone, eliminating the redundancy found in previous iterations of Android.

10-18-2011 7-26-11 PM

Next up is the virtual button bar, a feature that has been rumored since the very dawn of Ice Cream Sandwich rumors.

27
May
image

Google Finally Updates Web Android Market With Screenshot Navigation And Rotation Capabilities

Posted by in Apps/Games, News
Last Updated: May 29th, 2011

Ever since the Android web Market was launched, one of my main gripes with its UI (let's not talk about content discovery here) was screenshot navigation. There were 2 basic problems - you could not click Next or Previous as those buttons did not exist, and the only way to close a screenshot close-up was by finding and clicking a tiny X button.

Most modern "lightbox"-style galleries already solved the aforementioned problems by adding easy navigation buttons and allowing you to click anywhere on the screen to dismiss the close-up. Today, Google quietly did just that, and then some.

Here are the 5 new features I just spotted that weren't there this morning:

  • the Next and Previous buttons finally allow easy navigation
  • clicking on the close-up of a screenshot is equivalent to pressing Next
  • left and right keyboard arrow keys are equivalent to Previous and Next (hooray!)
  • the X button is gone - you can now close any image close-up by clicking anywhere on the screen
  • in-line rotation buttons which let you turn those occasional sideways images the right way

Here, have a look:

image

Visit your favorite app in the Market and check it out for yourself.

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