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Nov

[Review] Ingress Is, By Far, The Best Augmented Reality Game A Curious Explorer In The City Can Play

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News, Reviews

If you've been paying attention to the news cycle lately, you've probably heard that Google—by way of the obscure "Niantic Labs"—released a game of some kind. You saw a trailer that depicted people discovering hidden energy fields within statues, landmarks, and artistic sculptures. You had no idea what was going on. You signed up for an invite anyway, because like any other weird Google product, you want in regardless of what it is. Well, I got my invite a couple days ago, and I'm happy to tell you, it's absolutely worth it.

To say that Ingress is amazing would be an understatement.

Nov

Happy Fifth Birthday, Android: An Exploration Of Android's Five Year Journey To The Top

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Android OS, Features

Hi, Android! Sorry your present is a little late, it took a while to wrap it. Five years ago yesterday, Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt joined other members of the newly-formed Open Handset Alliance to announce the Android operating system. Back then, we were still nearly a year away from an actual Gphone (and yes, people really called it that) and Sprint and T-Mobile were the only US carriers even interested. Now, Android is installed on over 400 million devices, nearly every carrier in the world wants a piece of the action, and the platform as a whole is the single largest mobile OS ever.

Oct

A&E Releases 'History Here', An App That Highlights Historical Locations All Across The U.S.

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Ever wonder if anything interesting happened in your home town or surrounding areas in the days of old? Thanks to a new app from A&E TV called History Here, you can use the power of Google Maps to see the historical culture of towns all across the US.

Features:

Thousands of exclusive points of interest, written by the history experts at HISTORY.

Select your current location with GPS or choose any location across the country.

Customize your search to see historic points of interest—from right next door to 100 miles away.
View images and stream HISTORY video directly within the app.

Sep

[Weekend Poll] What Was Your First Version Of Android?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Will You Be Buying A New Kindle?

Earlier this week, Ron gave us an interesting look at what codenames came before Android 1.5, Cupcake (spoiler: 1.1 was "petit four," and 1.0 didn't have any codename at all). It's hard not to read the post without taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane, isn't it? I still remember heading into my local T-Mobile store to play with the G1 when it launched.

My life with Android officially started on June 4, 2010, with the launch of the HTC EVO 4G - and with Android 2.1, Éclair.

Sep

A History of Pre-Cupcake Android Codenames

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Android OS, News

You know the Android codenames, right? Starting with Android 1.5, they're alphabetical snacks - Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Jelly Bean. But what about before 1.5? What were those called? And why did they start with C? We've got real answers from real Googlers.

Wikipedia's Android Version History is a pretty awesome article, but, as of a few days ago, it was erroneously calling 1.0 and 1.1 "Astro" and "Bender." We had never heard of this, and there wasn't a good source attached to it, so we took to G+ to set the record straight.

Aug

Chase Mobile For Android Updated To Version 2.7 To Allow 24-Month Transaction History, Viewing/Use Of Chase Liquid Accounts, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Chase customers who use the bank's official Android app to stay on top of their banking on the go received an update recently, bringing the banking app up to version 2.7 and adding a few very handy enhancements.

Perhaps the most notable enhancement brought by the new update is the ability to scroll through up to 24 months of transactions related to Chase deposit accounts. The update also adds significant functionality for Chase Liquid customers (Liquid being the bank's reloadable ATM card service), including the ability to view account info, transfer money to your account, and use Chase QuickDeposit. Customers can also view in-app notices for things like upcoming service outages and app functionality.

Jun

Google+ Developer Platform Announced: Soon We'll Have Share Plugins, +1 Buttons, And The Ability Sign Into Apps With Google+

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

As Google+ continues to get better, it's only inevitable that it'll start showing up in more and more places. And Google intends for that to happen as soon as possible, from the looks of it - Mountain View just announced its Google+ Developer Platform.

The Google+ SDK, which should be available "in the coming weeks," will allow Android app developers to integrate G+ into their products more seamlessly. Features will include:

A "sign in with Google+ button" - once incorporated into apps, this will allow users to sign in using Google+ instead of creating an account specific to the app.

Apr

The Big Android Chart™: A Definitive History of Android Version Adoption

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: April 30th, 2012

Pop quiz: How long does it take for a new version of Android to be widely adopted? A new version of Android comes out, AOSP updates, OEMs adapt it to a myriad of devices, and carriers test the updates. That process. How long does it take?

It's a tough question to answer, mostly because Google doesn't provide data like that. The official site shows a 6 month version history, and that's it. Anyone looking for a decent amount of data is out of luck. There’s no way to view the long journey older Android versions have taken, and no way to see the bigger picture of how the update process eventually works out.

Feb

Double Fine Adventure's Next "Classic Point-And-Click Adventure" Game Is Headed For Android

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Games, News

Last Updated: August 2nd, 2012

You may remember that a few days ago, Double Fine Adventure (the studio behind Psychonauts and Day of the Tentacle) did the impossible, far exceeding their project's $400,000 goal on Kickstarter in just over eight hours (the project has raised over $1 Million with 26 days to go). Initially, Double Fine planned to invest extra proceeds in developing the studio's latest game for other platforms, with iOS and Mac being priorities.

Tim Schafer, Double Fine's founder and an industry veteran, posted an update to the Kickstarter page today, announcing that the game will have support not only for Android, but for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS.

Feb

[New Game] Pinball Arcade For Android Brings The Glory Days Of Pinball Back, Doesn't Require Quarters

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

The arcade may have killed the pinball star, but like the Rubik's cube or the Slinky before it, pinball machines have refused to disappear. Pinball Arcade, from Farsight Studios, brings back several classic pinball tables from major players in the pinball industry. Each table also comes with a brief description of its history.

Tables licensed from Williams, Bally, Stern, and Gottlieb have been recreated in impeccable detail. Gameplay and physics are fluid and the flippers are responsive with virtually no lag, which is critical in a game of reaction times. Controls are simple: tap a side of the screen to trigger the flipper on that side.