ios - 8/12 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Rovio: Angry Birds Will Get Cross-Platform Syncing Before Summer

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Apps/Games, Games, News

You know what I hate? Having to start over from the beginning of Angry Birds every time I flash a new ROM. I won't have to deal with that for much longer, though - according to the official Twitter page of Rovio Mobile, they're working on the greatest thing to happen to Angry Birds since the slingshot. Yes, I'm talking about syncing.

Once it's finished and unleashed to the world, each time you flash a new ROM, get a new device, or even switch platforms altogether (I'm looking at you iOS crossovers), you will be able to take all of your current bird tossing accomplishments with you.

Apr

Adobe Makes A Trio Of Android-Related Creative Suite 5.5 Announcements: PS Touch SDK, Flash Builder 4.5/Flex 4.5, And Flash Builder 4.5 For PHP

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, News

Adobe, the maker of the Creative Suite of applications, such as Photoshop, Acrobat, and Flash, is starting out the week with a whole array of new CS 5.5 announcements, with many new or updated features that deal directly with Android.

These announcements are great news for:

developers interested in building Android tablet applications that can interact directly with Photoshop using the new Photoshop Touch SDK (download it here). Example applications using the SDK were introduced by Adobe, though only for iOS for starters.
multi-platform developers looking to build, test, and deploy Flash and Air apps for multiple platforms, such as Blackberry Tablet OS, iOS, and, of course, Android, with the new Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5.

Apr

Business Insider Wants To Know Why Anyone Would Ever Buy An Android Phone; Let's Show Them.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Off-Topic

Silicon Alley Insider - the Tech section of Business Insider - posted a survey this weekend under the headline "WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER BUY AN ANDROID PHONE? Take Our Smartphone Survey And Tell Us!" Eye-catching, to say the least. The survey is 12 questions, and asks what phone (OS) you use, what your next one will use, and so on... it's all fairly standard.

The results of the survey aren't immediately available, but the site promises to publish them in a few days. SAI is generally pretty (*ahem*) Apple-friendly, but then again, they do give Android the credit it's due, so who knows what the results will show.

Apr

Editorial: Motorola XOOM Sales Estimated At 100,000 So Far - Does It Really Matter?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

No doubt you've seen at least one mention of the 100,000-XOOM sales figure somewhere on the web today - and for me, it has reached the point of mild annoyance. From this number, all sorts of wild extrapolations and theories are being tossed around about Motorola's future, Android's future, and the viability of tablets in an Apple-dominated market.

Boy Genius Report took a step back, and presented a level-headed but clearly pro-XOOM take on the news:

So, according to Deutsche Bank, Motorola has sold 100,000 XOOM tablets in less than a month and a half, which is an average of over 75,000 units per month.

Apr

Zipcar Is Working On An Android App, Car Rental Is Going To Get Even Easier

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

According to its Twitter account, car rental company Zipcar appear to be working on an Android app. This is pretty good news for Android owners out there that use Zipcar for their transportation needs, as an iOS app has been available for quite some time.

That means you'll be able to find a Zipcar, book it, and unlock it - all with your Android phone. If you live in San Francisco or another big Zipcar town, you'll know just how useful this will be.

If you are not familiar with Zipcar or how it works, take a look at their official site.

Mar

Apple Sues Amazon Over Use Of 'App Store' Name

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

Amazon's upcoming Android Market competitor, the Amazon Appstore, is in hot water for its namesake. On Monday, Apple filed a lawsuit in a California federal court claiming Amazon had infringed on its trademark of the phrase "App Store." Apple applied for a trademark to this name way back in 2008, but it wasn't approved until January of 2010. Since then, Microsoft has filed a dispute with the trademark office alleging that the grant was improper. That complaint's outcome is still pending.

In the meantime, Amazon may have a difficult time asserting that its use of "Appstore" (as opposed to "App Store") doesn't violate Apple's trademark - it's hard to deny that Apple's App Store is a well-know name in the mobile world.

Mar

AT&T Putting The Smack Down On Unauthorized Tethering

Posted by Will Shanklin in AT&T, News

AT&T users who have been tethering their phones' data plans under the radar (either using MyWi on a jailbroken iPhone, or one of many apps like Wireless Tether for Root Users on a rooted Android phone) have been receiving a little nudge from AT&T asking them to sign up for a tethering plan - or face possibly getting signed up for it without consent.

In a lengthy email, AT&T writes "Tethering can be an efficient way for our customers to enjoy the benefits of AT&T’s mobile broadband network and use more than one device to stay in touch with important people and information.

Mar

[Update: Study Seriously Flawed] After 45,000 Page Loads, Extensive Study Determines Android's Browser Is 52% Faster Than iPhone's

Posted by Will Shanklin in Android OS, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju)

Last Updated: March 18th, 2011

Update: After getting a lot of initial press, experts are weighing in and crying foul with the methodology of this study. Apparently the custom app the researchers used relied on Apple's UIWebView, which doesn't utilize recent optimizations made to the actual Safari browser.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball says:

"That's not to say it isn't interesting that Android's WebView for apps is faster than iOS's UIWebView for apps, but it just isn't true that these results are indicative of anything regarding Mobile Safari's performance. It's easy to see that Mobile Safari is faster than UIWebView - just run something like the SunSpider benchmark twice, once in Mobile Safari and once in any app from the App Store with a web content view.

Mar

Number Of Apps In Android Market Rapidly Gaining On Apple's App Store, But Android Tablets Aren't So Lucky

Posted by Will Shanklin in Android OS, Applications, News

If your Apple fanboy friends (surely you have at least one somewhere) like to taunt you with the old "iOS has more apps than Android" spiel, then you may not have to grudgingly agree with them for much longer. Business Insider published data this week that shows the Android Market's number of apps continuing to rapidly approach the amount of apps in Apple's marketplace. While the Market's trailing of the App Store by 100,000 applications would not, at a casual glance, appear to be encouraging, the rate of growth is clearly in Android's favor. In October that same gap was 185,000.

Mar

Love For Android! Portions Of $100 Million Fund Set Aside To Help Indie Devs Port From iOS To Android

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

If you are an indie developer who has had success with iOS apps, your prospects of porting your work to Android may have just improved. Social gaming platform OpenFeint and Chinese game operator The9 have committed unknown portions of a staggering $100 million fund to help move things along. The two companies will review games based on quality, downloads, and the strength of the game developer to determine who the lucky beneficiaries will be.

It was reported elsewhere that an entire $100 million was being allocated exclusively for porting from iOS to Android, but that was a misinterpretation: the $100 million Fund9 also supports "mobile app, game engine, and platform technology developers around the world." It is currently unknown exactly what portion of this will be devoted to Android development, but we certainly welcome any of it as good news.