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Apr

SwiftKey Is Dedicated To April Fool's Day – 'Tilt' Is A Real Feature And You Can Use It Now

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Earlier this morning, we added SwiftKey Tilt to our 2013 April Fool's day post. At first blush, it just looks like another funny idea made specifically for April Fool's Day – little did we know that Tilt is actually a real feature. According to a comment left on the official SwiftKey Blog, you can enable Tilt by long-pressing on the word "tilt" in the suggested words area above the keyboard in the newest version of the app.

Sure enough, it works.

And it functions just like in the video, too – simply move your phone around and the little ball (shown atop the "H" in the third screenshot) works like your finger to Flow Through Space.

Jan

Sphero Drive App Updated, Adds Beta Support For 'Multi-Ball' Mode

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you have a Sphero – the Bluetooth-controlled robot ball – then you know just how much fun they can be. If you happen to have more than one Sphero, you're in for a real treat, as you can now operate multiple Spheros from a single device, thanks to a new feature in the app called Multi-Ball.

It's worth noting that Multi-Ball is still in its experimental stages for the time being, so it may not work properly 100% of the time.

To use the feature, all you need to do is select each ball individually from the connection screen, hit done, and...

Dec

Now You Can Haz Lols Anywhere: Cheezburger Network Gets Its Own Mobile App

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Of course sharing this tidbit is going to make me that guy*, but if the word "meme" to you means "a picture with text written on it" then chances are you owe at least some thanks to the Cheezburger Network. This site (and later, series of sites)has been built around the business of collecting viral internet images for the lulz. Now, several realms from this digital domain—including but not limited to Memebase, FAILblog, and ROFLRazzi and a couple dozen others—are available via the new Cheezburger mobile app.

The app features just about every sub-section to the Cheezburger network (including one of my favorites, So Much Pun).

Oct

Those Sony "Nexus X" Pictures Might Hold Yet Another [Hilarious] "Surprise"

Posted by David Ruddock in Rumors, Sony

Update: Several of you have pointed out that this same visual could be accomplished by holding a Galaxy Nexus in your right hand, with the pinky wrapped around the bottom of the phone. I tried this with a phone of comparable width, and it's pretty hard to emulate the image here to a reasonably precise degree. But, I'd say it is possible, though I think this interpretation is at least a little funnier (here's how I'm picturing it).

Earlier today, our own Liam Spradlin provided a great breakdown of why we think those Sony "Nexus X" photos that are floating around aren't the real deal.

Oct

Surprise! Motorola Has Killed Off Webtop And The Lapdock

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Motorola, News

"I love my lapdock. It's easily the best piece of technology that I've purchased in the last ten years," said no one ever. And Motorola knows that, so they're getting rid of Webtop.

The reason (as if it's not already clear)? Lack of adoption, or in Motorola's words, "adoption wasn't strong enough." That's a nice way of saying "no one bought this crap." In all fairness, though, it makes sense, considering the direction Android is going in - ICS bridged the gap between smartphone and tablet, which basically eliminated the need for something like Webtop in the first place.

For those who may be new to the Android scene, Webtop was first introduced by Motorola with the Atrix 4G.

Jun

Verizon Hasn't Forgotten About The OG Droid Incredible, Has A Small OTA (Build 4.08.605.15) Update 'Coming Soon'

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Incredible, News

And you thought carriers/manufacturers didn't care about their customers! You should be ashamed of yourself! Turns out that carriers actually do care - why else would Big Red be preparing an OTA update for the old school Droid Incredible. Sure, it's far from a major update, but it it something:

Device Features, Improvements, & Fixes

Record and send a Visual Voice Mail to up to 10 recipients while seeing all parties in a list.
Improvements made in Bluetooth Car connectivity.

Applications & Widgets

Resolved issue where purchases Verizon App ringtones could not be saved to the device.

It's not much, but there's something to be said about an OTA update coming to a two-year old device.

Jun

Intel Demos New Wireless Smartphone Charging Via Laptop ... With A 2-Year-Old Samsung Fascinate

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Videos

Oh, Intel. First, you have a partner release a Gingerbread Intel-powered phone a solid 8 months after Android 4.0 has been out. Now, you demo a brand-new wireless charging system using an Intel Ultrabook and a Samsung Fascinate (for our foreign readers, this is a US-only Galaxy S variant). Check out the video from TheVerge, below:

Not only are they using a truly ancient Android phone to demo this new technology, they've actually made it uglier, too, with an odd "hump" of sorts maligning the left-hand-side of the device. Merits of the concept aside, you've got to admit, Intel isn't exactly winning a lot of points on first impressions here.

Feb

Samsung And Verizon Bring Back 2010 With Style, Roll Out Froyo Update To The Continuum

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Continuum, News, Verizon Wireless

I know what you're thinking - Continuum? Wtf is that? It's that novelty phone released back in November of '10 with two screens: the actual display, and the "ticker" underneath.

When it was release, it shipped with Android 2.1 (that's Éclair for those who haven't been in the Android game for more than a year). Guess what? That hasn't changed. Yes, those poor souls who bought the Continuum have been stuck running 2.1 for more than a year. Sadface.

Good news, though! Big Red started pushing a pair of updates that will bring black sheep of the Galaxy S family up to Android 2.2.

Feb

Newegg Gets Confused, Thinks The Verizon Galaxy Nexus Has A 2GHz Processor

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, News

Looks like someone may have dropped the ball over at Newegg, judging by one of the banner slides on the main page:

Do you see what we see? The Galaxy Nexus, now with 800MHz moar processor! It's clearly a typo, but it's pretty lulz all the same. Fortunately, the actual cell phone landing page has the correct specs, so hopefully no one out there will be picking up the good old GN thinking they're going to be clocking the fastest speeds known to man in a mobile device.

[Newegg]; Thanks, JCase!

Jan

[CES 2012] ViewSonic Introduces The 7" ViewPad E70: Ice Cream Sandwich (And Capacitive Keys) On A Budget

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, ViewPad E70

ViewSonic, a leader in making affordable gadgets, have intro'd yet another entry level tablet: the ViewPad E70. Under its hood, the 7-inch E70 screams budget in ever single way, as it houses a 1GHz processor, 4 geebees of storage, a microSD card slot, and an HDMI output capable of streaming 1080p video.

The real story of this budget-gadget isn't the specs, though - it's the software. The E70 will be running ICS out-of-the-box, which is a more than a lot of high-end devices announced thus far can say. It's not all good, however - take a look at the design: