easter egg - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Google Plays Breakout With Image Search Results For 37th Anniversary, Works On Android Too

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, Google, News

Sometimes you have to assume that there are entire teams at Google whose sole job is to think up fodder for nostalgic technology bloggers. Case in point: for the 37th anniversary of the classic arcade game Breakout, Google has thrown together another one of its elaborate Easter eggs. Do a Google Image Search for "atari breakout", and the results will turn into the smashable blocks, with your mouse working as a control for the paddle. It even works on Android, assuming you use a compatible browser in desktop mode.

Interestingly, the prototype version for the original 1976 Breakout hardware was designed with help from Apple's future dynamic duo, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Jul

The Google Nexus Q Has An Easter Egg Too

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News, Nexus Q (Steelhead)

Google tends to put Easter Eggs into all Android OS releases - remember the one Jelly Bean came with? Turns out the company stuffs these treats into more than just the operating system, as the Nexus Q's Android app has it too.

Beneath the tough outer shell of the Q lives a lonely Magic 8 Ball. To summon this ~~genie~~ bipolar fortuneteller, ~~rub~~ tap it in the right place a few times, and out it comes. The right place happens to be the image of the sphere (first screenshot below) - just tap away, and the Q will eventually exclaim "Have a dilemma?

Jun

[Video] Google's Android 4.1 Easter Egg Unearthed

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Videos

Gingerbread had a creepy skeleton zombie painting, Honeycomb packed a "tron bee," ICS hid a Nyan Droid, and now Jelly Bean too has an Easter egg to call its own.

Indeed, the egg first presents itself as a smiling red jelly bean complete with antennae when the user repeatedly taps the Android software version in settings (this can be seen on the left). In the background is whichever picture you've chosen as your wallpaper. Then, if you long-press anywhere on the screen, countless smaller jelly beans will emerge (seen on the right). What's more, you'll also be able to flick these smaller jelly beans off the screen should your spirit so desire.

Nov

[Updated: Not An Easter Egg But A Screensaver!] Weird, Star Wars-Like Light Speed Launcher Found Hidden In The Depths Of Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Off-Topic, Videos

Apparently, this and Nyan Droid are both part of a new screensaver feature Google called "Android Dreams" that was disabled by them before Ice Cream Sandwich was released (presumably because it wasn't ready for prime time yet). Here is a picture of the re-enabled feature in CM9, courtesy of Steve Kondik who stopped by our G+ post.

We're not sure whether what you're about to see is yet another Easter egg in Ice Cream Sandwich (remember the Nyan Droid?) or the next amazing launcher that will do your dishes and fly you into space, but it turns out the stock ICS launcher actually has another launcher buried inside.

Apr

Fun With Google's Mobile Easter Eggs - Try Searching For "Tilt," "Askew," Or "Crooked" In Your Mobile Browser

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, Off-Topic

April Fools' passed a long time ago but users are discovering a few jokes that decided to stick around, such as what happens when you search Google on your phone for any of these words:

tilt
askew
crooked

To preserve the lulz and save you some time, here is what you currently observe:

If you want to try this out for yourself without pulling out your mobile, you can just head over to this forced mobile version instead: http://www.google.com/xhtml?q=crooked

Keep it up, Google! Not many large companies out there will ever put Easter eggs like this one into their flagship products, even on April Fool's day.

Oct

Bug In Angry Birds Lets You Unlock All Locked Worlds

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News, Off-Topic, Tips & Tutorials

Have you ever wanted to peek ahead to those locked worlds in Angry Birds that are unavailable before fully completing the previous ones? A bug (or an Easter egg) in the Android version of the game lets you do just that, a reddit user braaaiins found. I tried it just a few minutes ago with 100% success.

Of course, many would argue that you should be going in order and playing the way Rovio meant for you to play, and I'd agree with them. However, there will always be people who would also find this unlock useful (lost game progress, new phone, angrybirdyism, etc), so I'll just put this here, and you can quietly walk away.