25
May
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Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

It's no secret that Minecraft, a simple, yet amazingly addictive and immersive game, is coming to Android - we've been hearing about it for months. It's also no secret that the first version, exclusive to Xperia Play, will be unveiled at E3 in just a few weeks - the conference is scheduled for June 7th-9th.

However, what exactly the game would look and play like on a mobile Android device when it is released was unknown... until today that is, when the developer, Mojang, released the first ever video of the gameplay on the web. Minecraft fans, brace yourselves, for what you're about to see will cause uncontrollable twitches, anxiety, excessive salivation, and possibly even diarrhea.

18
May
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Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

Earlier today, a tip about a new augmented reality game called HoopsAR hit our inbox. Since augmented reality is a relatively new and kind of cool subject, I decided to take a deeper look and go hands-on. Before I could play the game, I needed to print out a basketball "ticket" which serves as the game board. The phone's camera then scans it and overlays the court on top of it in 3D.

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If you're still a bit confused about how it works, don't worry - I whipped up a quick video hands-on in order to explain the overlay function and simple controls that make this game worth checking out.

12
May
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Announced back in April, the HTC Sensation (Sensation 4G on T-Mobile USA) is undoubtedly the company's most exciting and powerful Android phone arriving in the near future (starting late May in the UK and most likely June in the U.S.). Think of it as T-Mobile's and the rest of the world's response to the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. This dual-core monster will without a doubt aim to challenge even the current top contender, the screaming fast Samsung Galaxy S2.

To show off the Sensation and its features, HTC put together a 5-minute video, shot in the casually cool style that we've grown to expect from the company.

31
Mar
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HTC Flyer, also known as the HTC View 4G in the U.S. on Sprint, is one of the more interesting Android tablets coming out within the next few months, due to its superfast 1.5GHz processor, a perfect for many (as the Nook Color and Galaxy Tab showed) 7" size, palm rejection technology, and the Scribe digital pen.

Sure, we got a few hands-on here and there, but nobody can be as good as HTC itself at highlighting the best features of the tablet, at least until we get our own review units.

In this 6-minute video that surfaced a few hours ago, HTC showcases the tablet's aluminum unibody construction, sleek looks, the new Sense for tablets with improved homescreen swiping, gaming, video playback, and the Scribe pen.

15
Feb
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There's certainly no shortage of homescreen replacements for Android, but who's to say that we can't have one more? And you've got to admit, this concept app - Fipplr - looks really nice, and doesn't appear to fall short in terms of functionality, either.

Fipplr includes widgets for multiple apps, including Flickr, Twitter, and Google Latitude, although they aren't exactly the widgets we are used to. These widgets display quick information, and a quick swipe to the right will bring up an expanded view of the widget. On the right side of the homescreen are the launcher icons, which - while unmistakably similar to Windows Phone 7 - still look great.

24
Jan
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A couple of weeks ago at CES 2011, Sony Ericsson announced its latest Android handset - the sleek and sexy Gingerbread-running Xperia Arc. They've also invited the press, Android Police included, to attend a media breakfast where we ended up spending over an hour of quality time with the new device, documented in great detail here. If you have questions about the Arc, I highly recommend you dive into the above post, as it contains a plethora of useful bits and pieces, all wrapped in a convenient package.

Though the Arc was promised to land in consumers' hands sometime in Q1 2011 and no review units have been sent out just yet, the writers from an Italian blog HDBlog.it managed to get their hands on both the Misty Silver and Midnight Blue models and give the hardware and the interface a very thorough walkthrough.

20
Jan
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Launcher Pro, my favorite launcher replacement, got updated today with a much requested feature - homescreen transition animations, available to all LP users, not just Plus. In addition to the usual and very smooth slide effect, we now have 4 more: Scale, Rotate, Flip, and Cube. All are smooth, except for the Cube transition, so I would advise against using it until Fede makes it a bit more snappy. Out of 5 transitions (including the regular slide), my favorite is definitely Flip. What's yours?

Excuse the poor frame rate in the screencast - unfortunately, that's ShootMe's max for the time being

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Source: Launcher Pro

19
Jan
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Out of all the apps that require root privileges, I probably use ShootMe the most. Before today's update, it was the best and easiest way to take a screenshot anywhere in Android without hooking it up to a computer - just turn the program on, go to the screen you want to take a snapshot of, shake the device, and ShootMe snaps the picture. After today's update, however, ShootMe is no longer just a screenshot app - it's also a screencasting app. That's right, you can now use ShootMe to record videos of whatever you're doing on your Android device, up to 10 frames per second.

09
Jan
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Having just released the full version of Jet Car Stunts, mobile game development company True Axis also decided to release a demo version of the game, aka Jet Car Stunts Lite (currently live in the Market). Like the full version, the lite version features OpenFeint compatibility and gives users the ability to make huge jumps and fly through the air doing crazy stunts. For those who aren't familiar with the game, it’s a 3D driving sensation where your opponents are not other players, but the tracks. As a fan of the game, I can tell you that it is very addictive and extremely fun. 

This version includes:

  • 8 new levels not found in the regular version
  • Responsive accelerometer controls
  • Great crashes
  • 36 unique and 'insane' tracks
  • Multiple play modes
  • Jet assisted drift landing
  • Half car and half jet means you'll have in-air controls
  • Online leader boards and achievements with OpenFeint
  • Upload replays with your best times

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For anyone who wants to try the game before buying it, this is a great opportunity.

08
Jan
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It's officially the 3rd day of CES, and I finally made it over to the giant Sharp booth pavilion, where I was able to get a hands-on demo of the first and only 3D Android handset, which is currently only sold in Japan. Don't worry though - it's coming to the U.S. and possibly other locations this year. Perhaps you've heard of it - meet Sharp Galapagos 003SH, which is capable of not only showing 3D menus, pictures, and videos, but allows you to snap some as well. In addition, it supports 3D-enabled games, one of which I was able to demo.

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