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Apr

'Babel' Name Purportedly Makes An Appearance In Gmail, Might Be The Real Deal

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Google, News, Rumors

From poorly-executed "leaks" to potential legitimate sightings, there's been a lot of hubbub about Google's supposed unified messaging service, likely called Babel. This isn't necessarily surprising. After all, if you asked most Android enthusiasts what feature they most wanted from the platform in its next iteration, you'd hear a lot about unified messaging. We've tried to stay clear of covering every flurry of Babel-related murmurings so far, but today we saw something new – Google+ user Patric Dhawaan posted a screenshot of what he says is a notification in Gmail, triggered when "pruning" his inbox.

At first, we were a bit suspicious of the screenshot.

Apr

Talkray Undergoes Holo Refinement In Version 1.17 Update

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Device Updates, News

Talkray, from the makers of the incredibly popular touch-talk app TiKL, is an ambitious app – it looks to be your one-stop shop for mobile communication on the go, communicating through text, pictures, videos, and voice all for free. Until now, though, the app has had a fatal flaw – its design. While not the worst design we've seen, Talkray had, shall we say, unfortunate looks. Inconsistent styles, gradients mixed with flat elements, and Gingerbread-style tabs abound.

In its latest update (to version 1.17) though, the app underwent a bit of beautification, bringing it closer to a true holo standard. The redesign isn't perfect, but it's undeniably better.

Dec

Shadowgun: Deadzone Update (v1.1) Brings New Maps, Weapon Upgrades, Hats, Bug Fixes, And More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

Wonderful news for the roughly everyone on the planet who plays Shadowgun: Deadzone: a whole bunch of new stuff is rolling out today! Notably, there's the Gangs feature which allows you to create groups of friends to play with. There are also a couple new maps that you can explore. And by "explore" I mean "kill things in."

There are also new weapon upgrades, some additional hats (because every game has to have hats now, right TF2?) and bug fixes and tweaks all over the place. Here's the full changelog:

What's in this version:

☣New Features:
* Two New Maps
* New Weapons Upgrades
* Chat in Main Menu
* Gangs (Play with Friends)
* New Hats
* Rewards for finishing Zone Control or DeathMatch
* Player Rank increased up to 50 now
☣ GamePlay Tweaks:
* Redesigned Weapons Stats
* Weapons&Gadgets Are Limited by Ranks
☣ Bug Fixing:
* Improved Hit Detection
* Fixed VoiceChat
* Fixed Network Code
* Renderer Optimization
* Fixed Wall Exploits in Several Levels

As a side note: I love the radioactivity symbol for bullet points, Shadowgun developers.

Sep

Samsung's ChatON App Brings An Immersive, Full-Featured Chat Experience To Your Mobile [Sponsored Post]

Posted by A Word From Our Sponsor in Applications

Last Updated: March 27th, 2013

When it comes to chat applications on Android, there's no shortage of options. We have Gtalk, AIM, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and many, many others. Still, in a veritable sea of instant messaging options, Samsung has managed to provide a useful, unique, and feature-rich experience with ChatON.

ChatON is Samsung's way of connecting people - regardless of which platform they use - to their friends, family, and coworkers. It works across all major platforms, including Blackberry, Android (of course), iOS, Bada, and even on feature phones. It also has a tablet-specific interface if you prefer to chat it up on the larger screen.

Apr

Like Floating Apps? Then You'll Love LilyPad HD, A Floating Messaging Client For Tablets

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Finally! Since the dawn of floating apps (which was like, what, three months ago?) this is the one that I've hoped for: a chat client! Brought to us by the Tablified dev team, LilyPad HD finally makes it possible to rid yourself of the full-screen chat client on your tablet for something far more practical.

Like other floating apps, LilyPad offers basic features needed for an always-on-top app, like quick-hide mode, resizable windows, and even tabs for chatting with multiple people without having a slew of small windows taking over the entire screen.

At the current time, the app costs $1.49 and only has support for Google Talk.

Jan

[Preview] Steam On Android Is A Great Companion App, But It Still Needs Plenty Of Work

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in App Reviews, Games

Yesterday Steam launched its brand new app for Android. Unfortunately, the app is still in closed beta and many users are waiting with bated breath for their invites to show up. If you're among the unwashed masses waiting for your golden ticket, we’ve got you covered. Don’t worry, though. You're not missing out on too much.

The Basics

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: you won't be playing any games with this app. While users might hope for an OnLive-type setup that allows players to stream games over a network, Steam is still a ways off from that type of infrastructure.

Dec

[New App] Yahoo's Hub Creates Group Chats Using Text Messages - With Several Limitations

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Last Updated: August 27th, 2012

The Android Market certainly doesn't have a lack of group chat-messaging clients, but it appears that Yahoo is ready to throw its hat into the ring away. Separate from the Messenger app (which has been available on Android for quite some time), Hub uses text messages over a data connection - meaning that you won't incur any text messaging charges from using it. Unfortunately, your friends who don't have the client installed will, and in fact they may not be able to use it at all.

If both you and the person (or people) you are chatting with have the client installed (currently only available for Android 2.1 and up) then your messages will be sent over data.

Aug

[Update: Now Available] Facebook Introduces Messenger, A Powerful Mobile Extension To Chat

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

It looks like Facebook is putting its purchase of group messaging app Beluga to good use, as it just announced Messenger, a mobile app for Android and iOS that acts as a sort of extension to Chat. In addition to the aforementioned group chat ability, Messenger's goal is also to simplify all your conversations, whether it be through Chat, Messages, email, or text. Photo and location sharing options are also available.

~~Messenger is not yet available, but should be launching today, so we'll make sure to let you know as soon as it hits the Android Market~~. The app is now live in the Market, hit the widget below to grab it.

May

Qik Releases Video Chat/Mail App Optimized For Samsung Devices

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Samsung

While browsing some new arrivals this afternoon, I noticed that Qik, one of the large players in the mobile video chat business, today released an app called Qik for Samsung, clearly targeted at users of Samsung Android devices. Qik has been releasing apps customized to certain classes of devices, or even individual ones, for as long as I can remember, starting with the EVO 4G last year, so seeing yet another variant doesn't surprise me (see Qik for Sprint, Qik for T-Mobile, and Qik for Atrix).

What is not clear is exactly what is optimized for Samsung devices compared to the regular Qik app and whether higher resolution video is available, so I'm going to leave it to you, Samsung device owners, to figure out and report back.