music - 15/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Mar

[Review] Amazon Cloud Player For Android - Google Music Who?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

It’s not much of a secret that Amazon is quickly becoming one of my favorite companies. The way they have embraced Android is wonderful, creating diversity where there used to be none. I recently ran down some of the pros and cons of the Amazon Appstore for Android, which is starting to become my go-to marketplace for new apps. Now they have released a new music streaming service, Cloud Player, which brings some of the functionality that was originally a hope of Google Music to my Droid.

Cloud Drive and the Web App

The Cloud Player is basically a frontend to all of the music that is stored in the Cloud Drive (which can be used to store any file type).

Feb

Android Intervention, Part 3 Of 4: Google's Multimedia Problem And How They Can Fix It

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Editorials

This is part three in a series of editorials addressing our editors’ biggest gripes with Android. Part one, which focuses on fragmentation, can be found here; part two, which is centered around cohesiveness and uniformity, is located here.

Let's be honest here: Android's current multimedia situation is a mess. For one thing, the included music/video players are seriously lackluster; for another, there's no officially sanctioned way to buy songs or movies from an Android device. Though such features are probably in the pipelines, I believe these are issues Google needs to address now - after all, the iPhone has had these features since its incarnation.

Jan

Android Police Editors' Best-Of App Picks - Part 1: Music, Messaging, And File Transfers

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Apps/Games, Editorials, News, Tips & Tutorials

One thing we never grow tired of on Android is the myriad selection of apps available for use in a particular purpose. Be it text messaging, music listening, or file transfers, there's always a solid grouping of well-made apps to choose from. But whose app fits your needs best? Three of us here at Android Police are going to give you our personal favorites in an ongoing rundown series. We'll give you our picks in a wide variety of areas - from home screens to instant messaging. In this week's episode, we'll be looking at music, messaging, and file transfer applications.

Jan

Editorial: Five Things Android Tablets Will Need In Order To Succeed

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Tablets

Introduction

If there's one thing CES told us about the upcoming twelve months in technology, it's that 2011 will be the year of Android tablets. And with noteworthy entries such as the Motorola XOOM, ASUS' lineup, and the T-Mobile G-Slate, it looks like the tablets' quality might be just as high as their quantity - at least hardware-wise.

But what about the software? After all, isn't a device's OS what makes or breaks it? And even if the tablets are good, will consumers care? Let's take a look at the top five areas Android tablets will need to succeed in.

Dec

[Update: Hands-On] Honeycomb Music Player Leaked, Now Available To Download

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

We've known about the fancy new music player contained in Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) since Google I/O, but up until now, we haven't really had a chance to get a look at it ourselves. Well the suspense ends today - an APK has just been leaked and is now available to download.

First off, the much-anticipated wireless syncing feature isn't here, as this is most likely a beta version of the final app (which wouldn't be surprising considering how buggy it is in its current incarnation). What it does have, however, is a gorgeous new UI. Judging by what I'm seeing in the video above, it's a lot like the Gallery app that's been with us since Éclair, right down to the stacks of music seen in landscape mode.

Dec

Your Move, Shazam - SoundHound's Free Android App Now Features Unlimited Music IDs

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

The developers of SoundHound, a music recognition app, have decided to update the free version of their app to allow an unlimited number of music IDs, instead of the previous limit of 5 each month.

Meanwhile, SoundHound's biggest competitor, Shazam, has a very similar offering: a free app that has the same limit of 5 music IDs per month. If Shazam does nothing, which is hard to imagine, and you don't plan on spending any money, there's no contest regarding which app you are going to end up using.

Whether SoundHound might be digging itself into a hole with this move or not is unclear, but unlimited song recognition is one less reason for customers to drop $4.99 for SoundHound Infinity.

Dec

Next Version Of HTC Sense UI To Feature Online Media Store, "Natural Interaction"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in HTC, News

I'm no huge fan of UI overlays, but even I have to admit that HTC's Sense is getting better and better. With features like HTCSense.com and even an e-books store, there's no arguing that it's become more than just an Android skin - in Europe, at least.

It looks like the US is finally on the agenda for the new Sense. According to Drew Bamford, HTC's head of User Experience, the company will be rolling out a new version of the UI next year, which, among other things, will bring us Americans the features Desire HD and Desire Z owners have been enjoying for a while now.

Dec

App Of The Week: Grooveshark For Android (Insert Tooth-Related Or Aquatic Pun Here)

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Well, here we are again. Another week, another slew of apps to choose from. For a while there, we were doing an "App of the Week" series and then, for an even longer while, we weren't. I'd like for us to get back on the right path here, so I'm going to fix this.

App of the Week, Season 2: Eclectic Boogaloo

I've been a long time fan of Grooveshark. It is a service that, in my mind, cannot be beaten. There are tons of music streaming apps in the vein of Pandora, like Last.fm, and Slacker Radio, but they don't let you chose your songs or make a playlist.

Nov

Winamp 0.9.2 With Shoutcast Support Now In The Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Winamp feels incomplete without Shoutcast radio streaming support, and 2 weeks ago, some folks at DownloadSquad got their hands on a private beta version that had just that. Fast forward to today, and you can finally download the new Shoutcast-enabled v0.9.2 from the Market.

Top stations, search, favorites, recent, and genre browsing are all there and work exactly as expected. Now if only we could play custom .pls playlists, such as the one di.fm premium generates, I would be on cloud 9.

Grab the latest version of Winamp from the Market by clicking the QR code below on your mobile or scanning it with Barcode Scanner: